occupational psychology thesis

Digital Commons @ SPU

Home > Academic Units > SPFC > IOP Dissertations

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Dissertations

The Seattle Pacific University Department of Industrial-Organizational Psychology offers both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

This series contains successfully defended doctoral dissertations.

Dissertations from 2024 2024

Effects of Advertising Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) on Female Applicants’ Intentions to Pursue Employment Through Perceived Organizational Support , Jamie Crites

Dissertations from 2023 2023

The psychometric evaluation of decent work in India , Jadvir K. Gill

Implicit Trait Policies and Situational Judgment Tests: How Personality Shapes Judgments of Effective Behavior , Alexander Edward Johnson

An Investigation of the Impact of Prosocial Action on Psychological Resilience in Female Volunteer Maskmakers During COVID-19 , Linda D. Montano

To make or buy: How does strategic team selection and shared leadership strategy interact to impact NBA team effectiveness? , Brandon Purvis

Dissertations from 2022 2022

“Intended Between a Man and a Woman”: Examining the LGBTQ Campus Climate of a Non-Affirming Free Methodist University , Justin Cospito

Adverse Work Experiences and the Impact on Workplace Psychological Well Being, Workplace Psychological Distress, Employee Engagement, Turnover Intention, and Work State Conscientiousness , Nicole J. DeKay

Managing One’s Anxiety When Work Narratives Misalign , Shannon Eric Ford and Shannon Ford

The HERO in you: The impact of psychological capital training and perceived leadership on follower psychological capital development and burnout , Alifiya Khericha

CoachMotivation: Leveraging Motivational Interviewing Methodology to Increase Emotion Regulation Ability in the Workplace , Michael R. Nelson

Effects of Pay Transparency on Application Intentions through Fairness Perceptions and Organizational Attractiveness: Diversifying the Workforce by Effectively Recruiting Younger Women , Phi Phan-Armaneous

The space between stress and reaction: A three-way interaction of active coping, psychological stress, and applied mindfulness in the prediction of sustainable resilience , Kait M. Rohlfing PhD

A Quantitative Comparison of Employee Engagement Antecedents , Kirby White

Dissertations from 2021 2021

RAD Managers: Strategic Coaching for Managers and Leaders , Audrey Mika Kinase Kolb

Can Gender Pronouns in Interview Questions Work as Nudges? , Fei Lu

Catalytic Resilience Practices: Exploring the Effects of Resilience and Resilience Practices through Physical Exercise , Mackenzie Ruether

Dissertations from 2020 2020

Softening Resistance Toward Diversity Initiatives: The Role of Mindfulness in Mitigating Emotional White Fragility , Vatia P. Caldwell

When Proenvironmental Behavior Crosses Contexts: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Central Participation at Work on the Work-Home Interface , Bryn E.D. Chighizola

Developing Adaptive Performance: The Power of Experiences and a Strategic Network of Support , Joseph D. Landers Jr.

Purposeful Investment in Others: The Power of a Character of Service , Kayla M. Logan

Developmental Experiences Impacting Leadership Differentiation in Emerging Adults , Gabrielle E. Metzler

Fighting dirty in an era of corporate dominance: Exploring personality as a moderator of the impact of dangerous organizational misconduct on whistleblowing intentions , Keith Andrew Price

CoachMotivation: Developing Transformational Leadership by Increasing Effective Communication Skills in the Workplace , Megan L. Schuller

The Relationship Between Authentic Leadership and Resilience, Moderated by Coping Skills , Alice E. Stark

Building and Sustaining Hope in the Face of Failure: Understanding the Role of Strategic Social Support , Kira K. Wenzel PhD

Dissertations from 2019 2019

Exploring the Buffering Effects of Holding Behaviors on the Negative Consequences of Workplace Discrimination for People of Color , Heather A. Kohlman Olsen

Employee Engagement Around the World: Predictors, Cultural Differences, and Business Outcomes , Amanda Munsterteiger

Dissertations from 2018 2018

Ignatian Spirituality in Vocational Career Development: An Experimental Study of Emerging Adults , Scott Campanario

Narrative Leadership: Exploring the Concept of Time in Leader Storytelling , Helen H. Chung Dr.

Vulnerability in Leadership: The Power of the Courage to Descend , Stephanie O. Lopez

An Exploratory Study Examining a Transformational Salesperson Model Mediated by Salesperson Theory-of-Mind , Philip (Tony) A. Pizelo Dr.

Dissertations from 2017 2017

Developing Conviction in Women Leaders: The Role of Unique Work and Life Experiences , McKendree J. Hickory

The Role of Organizational Buy-in in Employee Retention , Serena Hsia

The Psychometric Evaluation of a Personality Selection Tool , James R. Longabaugh

Approaching Stressful Situations with Purpose: Strategies for Emotional Regulation in Sensitive People , Amy D. Nagley

Validation of the Transformative Work in Society Index: Christianity, Work, and Economics Integration , John R. Terrill

Seeking Quality Mentors: Exploring Program Design Characteristics to Increase an Individual’s Likelihood to Participate as a Mentor , Kristen Voetmann

Predicting Employee Performance Using Text Data from Resumes , Joshua D. Weaver

College for The Sake of What? Promoting the Development of Wholly Educated Students , Michael P. Yoder

Dissertations from 2016 2016

Am I a Good Leader? How Variations in Introversion/Extraversion Impact Leaders’ Core Self-Evaluations , Marisa N. Bossen

Dissertations from 2015 2015

The Development of Job-Based Psychological Ownership , Robert B. Bullock

Generational Differences in the Interaction between Valuing Leisure and Having Work-Life Balance on Altruistic and Conscientious Behaviors , Sandeep Kaur Chahil

Obtaining Sponsorship in Organizations by Developing Trust through Outside of Work Socialization , Katie Kirkpatrick-Husk

Managing Work and Life: The Impact of Framing , Hilary G. Roche

Men and Women in Engineering: Professional Identity and Factors Influencing Workforce Retention , Caitlin Hawkinson Wasilewski

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS
• Collections
• Disciplines

Contributors

• Submit Research
• Terms and Conditions
• SPU Department of I-O Psychology

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

Home > Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects > ALL-PROGRAMS > Industrial/Organizational Psychology Theses

Industrial/Organizational Psychology Theses

Theses/dissertations from 2022 2022.

Employee Satisfaction and Perceptions of Organizational Leadership Accountability , Caroline M. Clancy

The Effects of Transformational Leadership on Sales Performance in a Multilevel Marketing Organization , Alexander Techy

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Too Illegit to Quit: The Impact of Illegitiate Tasks on Turnover Intentions and Well-Being , Jacob Wessels

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

The Effects of Positive and Negative Humor at Work , Trevor Frey

Diverse Teams, Team Effectiveness, and the Moderating Effect of Organizational Support , Hannah Tilstra

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Effects of Psychological Need Satisfaction on Proactive Work Behaviors , Shota Kawasaki

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Gender Differences in Development Center Performance in a Healthcare Organization , Samuel Lawson

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Success in Learning Groups: Where have we been? And Where are we going? , Tiffany Michelle Ackerman

Individual Differences as Predictors of Success for Learning Community Students , Nicole Haffield

Moderating Effects of Resilience and Recovery on the Stressor-Strain Relationship Among Law Enforcement Officers , Austin Hearne

Selection Portfolio: Applying Modern Portfolio Theory to Personnel Selection , Eric Leingang

The Hogan Development Survey: Personality in Selecting and Training Aviation Pilots , Jenna McChesney

Evaluating a Measure of Student Effectiveness in an Undergraduate Psychology Program , Colin Omori

Participant Self-Assessment of Development Center Performance , Ryan Powley

“Let’s be clear”: Exploring the Role of Transparency Within the Organization , Maxwell Salazar

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

The Effect of an Email Intervention Tailored to Highly Ambitious Students on University Retention , Lauren Bahls

911,What's My Emergency? Emotional Labor, Work-Related Rumination, and Strain Outcomes in Emergency Medical Dispatchers , Jessica Lee Deselms

Can You Hack It? Validating Predictors for IT Boot Camps , Courtney Gear

Intervention E-mails and Retention: How E-mails Tailored to Personality Impact an Undergraduate Student's Decision to Return to School or Not , John Kelly Heffernon

Prudence and Persistence: Personality in Student Retention , Logan J. Michels

Examination of the Antecedents, Reactions, and Outcomes to a Major Technology-driven Organizational Change , Ngoc Dinh Nguyen

Training Coping Techniques to Reduce Statistics Anxiety , Brittany Prothe

Assessing the Effect of Personality Characteristics of Minnesota Golfers on the Brand Equity of Golf Drivers , Eric Schinella

Mood and Engagement Contagion in a Call Center Environment , Sarah Welsch

Why Do Some Employees Readjust to Their Home Organizations Better Than Others? Job Demands-Resources Model of Repatriation Adjustment , Yukiko Yamasaki

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Fitting Flow: An Analysis of the Role of Flow Within a Model of Occupational Stress , Jeffrey Alan Dahlke

Created Equal? Comparing Disturbing Media Outcomes Across Occupations , Christine Nicole Gundermann

The Influence of Perceived Similarity, Affect and Trust on the Performance of Student Learning Groups , Jennifer Louise Lacewell

Depth of a Salesman: Exploring Personality as a Predictor of Sales Performance in a Multi-Level Marketing Sample , Colleen Rose Miller

Expatriate Adjustment of U.S. Military on Foreign Assignment:The Role of Personality and Cultural Intelligence in Adjustment , Jennifer Pauline Stockert

Organizational Trust As a Moderator of the Relationship between Burnout and Intentions to Quit , Glenn Trussell

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Ethnic Names, Resumes, and Occupational stereotypes: Will D'Money Get the Job? , Tony Matthew Carthen

Examining the Effectiveness of the After Action Review for Online and Face-to-Face Discussion Groups , William Cradick

University Commitment: Test of a Three-Component Model , Brittany Davis

An Investigation into the Effect of Power on Entrepreneurial Motivations , Jack Reed Durand

Development and Enhancement to a Pilot Selection Battery for a University Aviation Program , Ryan Thomas Hanna

Overseas Assignments: Expatriate and Spousal Adjustment in the U.S. Air Force , Andrew R. Hayes

The Roles of Social Support and Job Meaningfulness in the Disturbing Media Exposure-Job Strain Relationship , Hung T. Hoang

Student Assessment of Professor Effectiveness , Roger Emil Knutson

Dirty Work: The Effects of Viewing Disturbing Media on Military Attorneys , Natalie Lynn Sokol

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Selection System Prediction Of Safety: A Step Toward Zero Accidents In South African Mining , Rachel Aguilera-Vanderheyden

Examining Generational Differences across Organizational Factors that Relate to Turnover , Kimberly Asuncion

An Investigation of Online Unproctored Testing and Cheating Motivations Using Equity Theory and Theory of Planned Behavior , Valerie Nicole Brophy

Race, Gender, and Leadership Promotion: The Moderating Effect of Social Dominance Orientation , Chelsea Chatham

Disentangling Individual, Organization, and Learning Process Factors that Drive Employee Participation , Diana Colangelo

Will [email protected] get the Job Done? An Analysis of Employees' Email Usernames, Turnover, and Job Performance , Jessica Marie Lillegaard

Using Personality Traits to Select Customer-Oriented Security Guards , Tracy Marie Shega

Mobile Internet Testing: Applicant Reactions To Mobile Internet Testing , Sarah Smeltzer

Ethical Leadership: Need for Cross-Cultural Examinations , Shuo Tian

Development of a Pilot Selection System for a Midwestern University Aviation Program , Kathryn Wilson

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Identifying Organizational Factors that Moderate the Engagement-Turnover Relationship in a Healthcare Setting , Stevie Ann Collini

Organizational Wellness Programs: Who Participates and Does it Help? , Justin Michael Dumond

Coping with Economic Stressors: Religious and Non-Religious Strategies for Managing Psychological Distress , Jonathan Karl Feil

The Creation and Validation of a Pilot Selection System for a Midwestern University Aviation Department , Jacob William Forsman

The National Survey of Student Engagement as a Predictor of Academic Success , Paul Michael Fursman

Perceptions of a Text-Based SJT versus an Animated SJT , Amanda Helen Halabi

The Moderating Effects of Work Control and Leisure Control on the Recovery-Strain Relationship , Jason Nicholas Jaber

The Role Social Influence Has On Dormitory Residents' Responses to Fire Alarms , Michael Otting Leytem

The Impact of Culture, Industry Type, and Job Relevance on Applicant Reactions , Olivia Martin

Someone Who Understands: The Effect of Support on Law Enforcement Officers Exposed to Disturbing Media , Jessica Morales

The Effects of Task Ambiguity and Individual Differences on Personal Internet Use at Work , Hitoshi Nishina

The Roles of Self-Efficacy and Self-Deception in Cheating on Unproctored Internet Testing , Christopher Adam Wedge

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Assessing Transfer Student Performance , Hyderhusain Shakir Abadin

Should You Hire [email protected]?: An Analysis of Job Applicants' Email Addresses and their Scores on Pre-Employment Assessments , Evan Blackhurst

The Dirty Work Of Law Enforcement: Emotion, Secondary Traumatic Stress, And Burnout In Federal Officers Exposed To Disturbing Media , Amanda Harms

Comparison of a Ranking and Rating Format of the 5Plus5: A Personality Measure , Kristy Lynn Jungemann

Cultural Intelligence and Collective Efficacy in Virtual Team Effectiveness , Pei See Ng

Relationship Type Determines the Target of Threat in Perceived Relational Devaluation: Organizational Self vs. Interpersonal Relationships , Peter Sanacore

Development of an Assessment Center as a Selection Method for I/O Graduate Applicants , Ting Tseng

Hiking, Haiku, or Happy Hour After Hours: The Effects of Need Satisfaction and Proactive Personality on the Recovery-Strain Relationship , Paige Woodruff

Exploring the Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Knowledge-based Virtual Communities , Luman Yong

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS

Author Corner

• All Authors
• Submit Research

University Resources

• Digital Exhibits
• ARCH: University Archives Digital Collections
• Library Services
• Minnesota State University, Mankato

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

A meta-analysis of psychological empowerment: Antecedents, organizational outcomes, and moderating variables

• Open access
• Published: 28 February 2023
• Volume 43 , pages 1759–1784, ( 2024 )

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

• Marta Llorente-Alonso   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6884-2595 1 , 2   nAff3 ,
• Cristina García-Ael 3 &
• Gabriela Topa 3  

13k Accesses

9 Citations

40 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

Psychological empowerment (PE) is a subjective, cognitive and attitudinal process that helps individuals feel effective, competent and authorized to carry out tasks. Over the last twenty years, research into PE has reported strong evidence reaffirming its role as a motivational factor in organizational psychology. In this study, the aim is to systematically review, analyze and quantify correlational empirical research focusing on empowerment, as understood by the theory developed by Spreitzer et al. ( 1995a , b ), using meta-analytical techniques. The study also analyses the antecedents and consequences of PE and explores potential moderators of the relationship between this variable and its correlates. The electronic search encompassed studies dating from the publication of Spreitzer's empowerment scale ( Academy of Management Journal , 38 , 1442–1465, 1995b ) up to January 2019. It was conducted in database aggregators, as well as in Metabus, occupational psychology journals and doctoral thesis repositories. Of the 1110 records identified, 94 were included in the meta-analysis. Most of the studies included used purposive or convenience sampling and had a cross-sectional study design. We focused on searching for studies that use a survey analysis approach. We extracted information about effect size (ES) in the associations between PE and its antecedents and consequences, and used the Comprehensive Meta-analysis 2.0 program to carry out the analyses (Borenstein et al., 2005 ). Effect size was calculated as the Pearson correlation ( r ), processed using Fisher's Z transformation. A random effects model was used and heterogeneity was analyzed to detect moderator variables. In relation to antecedents, in all meta-analyses, non-significant results were found only for education ( r  = -.001, CI [-.06, .06]) and organizational rank ( r  = .10, CI [-.16, .36]). All meta-analyses focusing on the association between psychological empowerment and its consequences returned significant results. Job satisfaction ( r  = .50) and organizational commitment ( r  = .51) had the largest effect sizes. Our results suggest which factors may be more important for generating empowerment among employees in accordance with the profession in which they work and their culture of origin. The main novelty offered by our results is that they indicate that age moderates the relationship between empowerment and the majority of the antecedents studied, a finding not reported in other meta-analyses. The present meta-analysis may help encourage organizations to pay more attention to PE, focusing their efforts on improving or strengthening certain structures or factors. Empowerment initiatives or programs focused on employee well-being lead to a workplace in which people are motivated and have a sense of purpose. Our results allow us to recommend interventions that enhance and improve the antecedents of EP. Finally, the present meta-analysis may help encourage organizations to pay more attention to the antecedents and consequences of PE, focusing their efforts on improving or strengthening certain structures or factors.

Similar content being viewed by others

Empowering satisfaction: analyzing the relationship between empowerment, work conditions, and job satisfaction for international center managers

The role of workers’ motivational profiles in affective and organizational factors.

Do it yourself, but I can help you at any time: the dynamic effects of job autonomy and supervisor competence on performance

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Introduction

Empowerment theories.

Over the last twenty years, research into psychological empowerment has reported strong evidence reaffirming its role as a motivational factor in organizational psychology. The term "empowerment" was coined in 1977 by Kanter, who identified it as the cornerstone for improving quality and service in organizations. Kanter believed that by empowering workers, organizations could ensure that they responded more flexibly to the different situations which may arise, instead of merely obeying rules in an automatic fashion. The aim was to give workers greater control over their resources and more access to information, in order to enable them to deal more effectively with customer requirements and even elevate their status within the organization. Kanter's social-structural perspective was therefore focused on empowering structures, policies and practices, which she viewed as indicators of empowerment. Subsequently, other authors have also identified these same elements as contextual antecedents of empowerment (Seibert et al., 2004 ).

The first empowerment theories did not focus only on organizations. Indeed, authors such as Rappaport ( 1984 ) and Zimmerman ( 2000 ) considered the concept to be a key mechanism of community psychology, perceiving it as a process in which people, organizations and communities gain greater control over their lives (Rappaport, 1984 ). Zimmerman ( 2000 ) argued that empowerment is a multilevel construct that can be analyzed at different levels: individual, organizational and community. Moreover, within each level of analysis, empowerment can be understood as both a process (a mechanism through which people gain control and influence over their lives) and an outcome (the consequence of different processes). For example, activities, actions and structures may be empowering, and the outcome of these processes is a feeling of empowerment (Zimmerman, 2000 ). According to this author, psychological empowerment refers to the individual level of analysis (Zimmerman, 1995 ), although he also argued that it may take different forms, depending on the people and contexts that surround it, and is not, therefore, a static concept. Consequently, he broke psychological empowerment down into three components: intrapersonal, interactional and behavioral. The intrapersonal component refers to people's self-perceptions and includes motivation to control, perceived competence and self-efficacy, and perceived control in specific domains.

Conger and Kanungo ( 1988 ) are generally considered to be the first authors to talk about the concept of psychological empowerment (PE). They distinguished between empowerment based on management and social influence literature, and that based on psychology literature. They defined empowerment as a relational construct in the practice of management, since it describes the process by which a leader shares their power with their subordinates in a dynamic relationship. However, they also recommended that empowerment be understood as a motivational construct, as (they argued) it is indeed viewed in psychology literature. They defined empowerment as "a process of enhancing feelings of self-efficacy among organizational members through the identification of conditions that foster powerlessness and through their removal both by formal organizational practices and informal techniques of providing self-efficacy information" (p.474). They therefore distinguished between different meanings of empowerment: empowerment in management terms, as an attempt to delegate or share power; and empowerment in psychological terms, as a means of motivating by enhancing personal efficacy.

Thomas and Velthouse ( 1990 ) further developed the motivation-centered theory of PE defined by Conger and Kanungo ( 1988 ). They refined the model, viewing empowerment as a motivational factor linked to intrinsic task motivation and specifying the set of cognitive components aimed at generating this intrinsic motivation: impact, competence, meaning and choice or self-determination. Impact refers to the degree to which one behavior stands out from the rest when attempting to achieve one's goals, and can be understood as the act of obtaining the desired effect through excellent conduct in a specific activity. Competence refers to the degree of skill demonstrated by the individual in the required task. This component coincides with the construct proposed by Bandura ( 1977 ) in the field of clinical psychology, known as self-efficacy (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990 ). Meaning is the "value of the goal in relation to a person's ideals or standards". It represents the psychological energy invested in a task. Finally, self-determination is the perception of having a choice about what one does, and "involves causal responsibility for a person's actions" (p.673).

Spreitzer ( 1995a ) continued conceptualizing empowerment by focusing on the workplace, building on previous studies published by Thomas and Velthouse ( 1990 ). She developed a questionnaire to measure PE at work, including the four dimensions proposed by Thomas and Velthouse ( 1990 ), which she herself had subsequently identified independently (Spreitzer, 1992 ). These four dimensions (impact, competence, meaning and self-determination) correspond to the intrapersonal component of empowerment defined by Zimmerman ( 1995 ). Spreitzer ( 1995b ) defined PE as a motivational construct that reflects an active orientation and self-perception of one's capacity to shape one's own work role and is manifested in four cognitions. She also argued that each of the four dimensions proposed for evaluating PE contributes to a global construct of empowerment. However, although the lack of any one dimension may diminish empowerment, it will not eliminate it altogether.

According to the theories outlined above, psychological empowerment may be defined as a cognitive, subjective and motivational process by which individuals perceive themselves as effective and competent for carrying out tasks, with sufficient capacity to ensure their completion. Moreover, the tasks themselves are deemed relevant and meaningful, and individuals feel they have freedom of choice in relation to them. The most comprehensive theory of PE is that developed by Spreitzer ( 1995a , b ). Her model includes both the social-structural antecedents of PE and its behavioral consequences. Seibert et al. ( 2011 ) carried out the first meta-analytical review of the concept of PE, integrating other theoretical approaches also, such as the social-structural one and that based on teams. Some years later, Maynard et al. ( 2013 ) conducted another meta-analysis, analyzing PE in teams and coding the studies aggregated to team level. Neither of these meta-analyses focused specifically on Spreitzer's measure of psychological empowerment, and both included other measures in their systematic reviews (Menon's empowerment scale ( 1995 ) in the first and Kirkman and Rosen's ( 1999 ) measure of team empowerment in the second).

The aim of the present study is to perform a systematic review of the concept of psychological empowerment, using meta-analytical techniques. To this end, it analyzes and quantifies correlational empirical research focusing on PE, as understood by the theory developed by Spreitzer ( 1995a , b ). The ultimate aim is to gain greater insight into the antecedents and consequences of the concept of PE. The study also explores potential moderators of the relationship between empowerment and its correlates and compares the results obtained with those reported by previous meta-analytical studies, in order to highlight the principal differences and suggest possible avenues of future research. Moreover, previous meta-analyses have highlighted a lack of research into certain organizational variables that have become highly relevant to the field of work psychology over the past decade, identifying, for example, a need for studies that explore the relationship between psychological empowerment and variables such as job crafting, engagement and organizational identification. For this reason, in the present study, we analyze whether this gap in the literature is still evident. Figure  1 shows the model proposed for the meta-analysis.

Proposed model for the meta-analysis based on Seibert et al. ( 2011 ) and Spreitzer ( 1995b )

Antecedents of psychological empowerment

Spreitzer ( 1995b ) included the contextual antecedents of PE in her model, positing that role ambiguity, sociopolitical support, access to information, access to resources and a work unit culture would be seen as empowering by workers. Other individual or characteristic personality factors, such as locus of control and self-esteem, have also been viewed as influencing cognitions of empowerment and may generate greater intrinsic motivation (Spreitzer, 1995a ). Based on these previous studies, we distinguish between two types of factor in relation to the antecedents of PE: 1) psychosocial and organizational factors, and 2) individual worker characteristics.

Psychosocial and Organizational Factors

Structural and high-performance managerial empowerment practices.

This group includes both structural empowerment and high-performance managerial practices. Access to organizational empowerment structures influences perceptions of power in the work environment (Kanter, 1977 ). The elements that make up structural empowerment are learning opportunities, access to information, access to resources and access to support in the workplace (Kanter, 1977 ). As Seibert et al. ( 2011 ) proposed in their meta-analysis, we also include high-performance practices in this group, since they are believed to improve performance by increasing the amount of information and skills workers have in relation to their job. The factors included in this group refer to managerial practices oriented towards offering workers greater access to support, resources, information, learning, innovation and growth, which in turn act as motivational and empowering elements. This category reflects the extent to which jobs or managers provide workers with opportunities in relation to the different variables mentioned. In terms of structural empowerment, Monje Amor et al. ( 2021 ) observed that psychological empowerment partially mediated the positive link between this variable and work engagement, which in turn was related to better task performance and lower intention to quit. The categories and primary variables included in the present meta-analysis are outlined in detail in the Appendix (Tables 6 and 7 ).

Hypothesis 1a : Structural and high-performance managerial empowerment practices in the organization will, in general, be positively associated with PE.

The leadership factor encompasses all those practices or forms of leadership that are geared towards motivating workers and therefore seek to enhance their perception of empowerment. Leadership initiates a motivational process leading to empowerment and employees also tend to feel increasingly empowered when their leaders behave in a way that is viewed as positive (Laschinger et al., 2014 ). Indeed, some questionnaires on leadership styles suggest that empowerment may form part of the transformational leadership process. Specifically, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ)—Short Form 5X (Avolio & Bass, 2004 ) includes a dimension called extra effort. This factor reflects the degree to which a leader is able to motivate an employee to do more than they expected to do, and to what extent that same leader manages to increase their desire to work hard and to succeed. Transformational leadership posits that transformational leaders are those who are able to involve and therefore empower their followers by fostering identification with goals, values and other members of the organization (Kark et al., 2003 ).

Rodríguez et al. ( 2017 ) also take into account the conceptual overlap between transformational leadership and authentic leadership. Authentic leadership has been considered a latent construct that serves as the foundation for transformational leadership (Avolio & Gardner, 2005 ) and contributes to the formation and development of members’ psychological capital (Jang, 2022 ). The ability of an authentic leader to develop their followers’ psychological capital helps empower them. Empowerment has been proposed as the mechanism through which authentic leadership influences performance (Walumbwa et al., 2007 ).

For its part, Leader-member exchange theory holds that the quality of the relationship between a leader and their followers plays a key role in determining how workers respond to their work environment (Davies et al., 2011 ). Arnold et al. ( 2000 ) describe empowering leaders as those who facilitate employee performance by enabling and encouraging workers in their work roles. Other authors have also argued that charismatic leadership is associated with a wide range of positive organizational outcomes and charismatic leaders are able to empower their followers to act beyond their expectations (Hepworth & Towler, 2004 ). Sylvia Nabila et al. ( 2021 ) found an indirect positive relationship between leadership styles (transformational leadership and transactional leadership) and task performance, with this relationship being mediated by psychological empowerment. In light of the above, we hypothesized that certain leadership styles would lead to major changes in followers' attitudes and behaviors, prompting them to accomplish more than expected.

Hypothesis 1b : Empowering, transformational and charismatic leadership styles and behaviors will be positively and significantly associated with workers' PE.

Social support and trust in the organization

This category includes sociopolitical support, support from the organization, rewards or income and trust in the organization. Spreitzer ( 1996 ) argued that certain managerial practices that are likely to improve sociopolitical support encourage people to trust each other, which in turn reduces the forces of domination at work and enhances empowerment. This category is closely linked to the " structural and high-performance managerial empowerment practices " one, the main difference being that, in this group, the emphasis is not on opportunities for or access to managerial elements, but rather on workers' perceptions of the support provided by the organization. The category " social support and trust in the organization " refers to the individual's perception of real rewards, trust and support, beyond the opportunity to access certain elements.

Interpersonal, mutual or dyadic trust between workers and supervisors has been found to facilitate activities in terms of organizational behavior and enables workers to feel empowered (Ergeneli et al., 2007 ). Seibert et al. ( 2011 ) refer to sociopolitical support as the degree to which work-related elements provide workers with material, social and psychological resources. According to Maynard et al. ( 2013 ), organizational support "can include actual resources that the team is able to obtain from other entities within an organization, [as well as] communication and coordination with other teams". As such, interpersonal trust and sociopolitical or organizational support through either resources or rewards can be considered facilitating factors that help enhance workers' motivation, thereby empowering them. In this sense, a study carried out by Gill et al. ( 2019 ) supports the idea that trust predicts feelings of empowerment among subordinates, as well as reciprocal feelings of trust towards supervisors. Moreover, the results of this study also support the idea that empowerment may play a unique mediating role in the relationship between subordinates’ feelings of being trusted and their well-being and work attitudes.

Hypothesis 1c : Greater social support and trust in the organization will be positively and significantly associated with PE.

Work role and work content

This category includes variables that explain the characteristics of the work content and the clarity of work roles. The concept work role comprises the set of tasks/activities that an individual is expected to perform in their job. When their roles are ambiguous and there is no clear definition of the tasks they are expected to perform, workers cannot be psychologically empowered. Furthermore, opportunities for empowerment are limited when employees perform routine and repetitive tasks. According to Yukl and Becker ( 2006 ), “there is more potential for meaningful work and self-determination in jobs that have complex tasks and enriching job characteristics”.

Morgeson and Humphrey ( 2006 ) developed a measure to assess job characteristics and argued that many terms have been used to describe similar job characteristics (defined as the attributes of the task, the job itself, and the social and organizational environment). According to these authors, the association between work characteristics and outcomes is moderated by several factors, one important one being psychological empowerment. Moreover, it has also been argued that although some employees may respond more positively than others to motivational characteristics, very few respond negatively (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006 ).

Towsen et al. ( 2020 ) found that authentic leadership exerts its influence on work engagement through psychological empowerment, regardless of the level of employees' role clarity. However, these authors also suggested that, contrary to expectations, the nomological proximity of authentic leadership and role clarity may be linked to this result. Spreitzer ( 1996 ) found a strong negative association between role ambiguity and PE and Karasek ( 1979 ) developed the demand-control at work model to explain job strain in terms of the balance between the demands of the job and the level of control (opportunities to develop personal skills and decision latitude) enjoyed by workers over them. High-stress jobs, characterized by high demands and low control, have been associated with lower psychological empowerment levels among workers (Laschinger et al., 2001a , b ). A negative work environment may lead to demotivation and the inability to carry out the tasks required by the job. According to conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 2001 ), a negative work environment is one with too few resources. This lack of resources results in workers’ inability to perform their assigned tasks or to obtain new resources to minimize the problem. According to Zhou and Chen ( 2021 ), the loss of resources leads to stress, which in turn generates an iterative spiral. Psychological empowerment can prevent these resource loss spirals.

Hypothesis 1d : An adequate work environment, with well-defined roles, an absence of excessive demands and perceived control over one’s job, will be positively and significantly associated with PE.

Individual worker characteristics

This category includes worker characteristics such as organizational rank, organizational tenure and education level. These variables feature as control or demographic variables in many studies (Llorente-Alonso & Topa, 2018 ; Wang & Howell, 2012 ), although they are only considered key variables in a few (Malik & Courtney, 2010 ). In the present study, we view individual characteristics (tenure, rank in the organization, education, etc.) as proxy variables indicating the worker’s level of knowledge, skill or experience, as well as their contribution to the organization. These proxy variables make it possible to obtain others of greater interest, through a correlation with the inferred value.Seibert et al. ( 2011 ) argued that individual characteristics are linked to empowerment.Variables related to human capital and employees' demographics are closely linked to career success (Wayne et al., 1999 ), and may have a positive impact on worker empowerment.

Significant results have been reported which suggest that these variables are associated with greater worker empowerment, although a meta-analysis encompassing all research to date is required since, in some cases, the results are contradictory. Spreitzer ( 1996 ) found significant associations between education level and PE, and in a sample of healthcare workers, Koberg et al. ( 1999 ) observed greater empowerment among those who had been with their organization for longer and had a higher rank. However, these authors found no significant association between education and empowerment. Prabha et al. ( 2021 ) found that faculty members with above-average age exhibited greater psychological empowerment, motivation and satisfaction. Furthermore, faculty members with above-average experience possessed a higher level of PE and satisfaction. These results prompt us to hypothesize that experience and organizational tenure may lead to greater empowerment.

Moreover, this category also includes personality factors such as locus of control, attributional style and self-control, etc. The extant research suggests that workers with an internal locus of control have higher expectations of their impact on certain tasks than those with an external locus of control (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990 ). According to the cyclical and dynamic model established by Thomas and Velthouse ( 1990 ), interpretive styles influence the way in which individuals can empower or disempower themselves.

Hypothesis 2a : Greater organizational tenure will be associated with greater PE.

Hypothesis 2b : Higher organizational rank will be positively and significantly associated with PE.

Hypothesis 2c : Higher education levels will be associated with greater PE.

Hypothesis 2d : Positive personality characteristics will positively influence PE.

Hypothesis 2e : Negative personality characteristics will be negatively and significantly associated with PE.

Consequences of psychological empowerment

Many studies have sought to analyze the consequences of PE. Spreitzer ( 2008 ) highlighted the importance of feeling empowered at work for obtaining positive individual outcomes. Other meta-analyses have divided the consequences of PE into two groups. For example, Seibert et al. ( 2011 ) distinguished between attitudinal and behavioral consequences, whereas Maynard et al. ( 2013 ) made a distinction between performance variables and affective reactions. In this study, we establish three categories: workers' affective reactions, workers' attitudinal reactions and the actions or behaviors generated by empowerment. We therefore distinguish between the emotional reactions generated by the feeling of empowerment, the tendency or willingness to act in a certain way and the behaviors generated by PE.

Workers' attitudinal reactions

Attitude can be defined as a state of mental readiness, organized through experience, which has a direct influence on a person's behavior (Allport, 1935 ). This tendency to act in a certain way is considered to be directly influenced by motivational variables. Some studies have associated greater PE with a weaker turnover intention (Islam et al., 2016 ), and Avolio et al. ( 2004 ) argued that empowered employees see themselves as more capable and more able to significantly influence the work they perform. They are also more likely to make an additional effort, act independently and be more committed to their organization. Higher levels of PE have been associated with greater organizational commitment, although some studies have found differences in the degree of this commitment in accordance with the country in which the data were collected (Ahmad & Orange, 2010 ).

Aljarameez ( 2019 ) conducted a study in which psychological empowerment was found to have a small moderating effect on the relationship between structural empowerment and continuance commitment. In most of the studies included in the meta-analysis presented here, organizational commitment refers to the Three-Dimensional Model of Organizational Commitment, which encompasses affective, continuance, and normative commitment; and studies include a general measure of commitment made up of these three components (Allen & Meyer, 1990 ).

However, in the studies by Chen et al. ( 2011 ), Kabat-Farr et al. ( 2018 ), Redman et al. ( 2009 ) and Hill et al. ( 2014 ), only the affective commitment subscale was used. For their part, Janssen ( 2004 ) and Raub and Robert ( 2012 ) used the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire developed by Mowday et al. ( 1979 ).

Hypothesis 3a : Greater PE will be associated with stronger organizational commitment.

Hypothesis 3b : PE will be negatively and significantly associated with turnover intention. The more empowered the worker, the weaker their intention to leave the organization.

Workers' affective reactions

Laschinger et al. ( 2001a , b ) argue that the strategies proposed in Kanter's empowerment theory have the potential to reduce job strain and improve employee job satisfaction. They theorize that greater psychological empowerment provides an understanding of the mechanisms that intervene between structural work conditions and key organizational outcomes. Therefore, according to Affective Event Theory, when employees are excited about and immersed in their work, they are more likely to want to make a greater contribution to their organization (Park et al., 2021 ). According to this theory, dispositions and work events can lead to affective reactions, which in turn generate affect driven behavior (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996 ).

Job strain occurs when workers are subject to many psychological demands yet have little control over them (Karasek, 1979 ). Prolonged strain results in an occupational syndrome known as burnout, which is characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion, depersonalization and low levels of perceived personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson, 1982 ). Burnout occurs in the presence of chronic stressors. The original model encompassed only human service providers and education workers, although it has subsequently been found to be applicable to any occupation (Leiter & Schaufeli, 1996 ). Calvo and García ( 2018 ) argue that PE is the result of structural empowerment, and may therefore act as a protective factor against chronic stressors in the workplace. Laschinger et al. ( 2001a , b ) found that greater PE strongly influenced both the degree of occupational strain felt by workers and their job satisfaction. According to Heron and Bruk-Lee ( 2019 ), the experience of high stress at work interferes with the process whereby empowerment may impact desirable work attitudes and safety-related behaviors. The findings of their study highlight the importance of understanding the effects of workplace stress for predicting critical outcomes.

Job satisfaction is one of the most widely studied affective reactions among workers, and is considered an indicator of psychological health and well-being. According to Spector ( 1997 ), job satisfaction is the way people feel about their job and its different aspects, and is linked to the degree to which they like or dislike it. This author also argues that workers' level of satisfaction may affect behaviors linked to good organizational functioning. For example, workers with greater PE, and therefore a stronger perception of their own competence and impact, tend to feel more satisfied with their jobs. A recent meta-analysis has shown that the direct association between psychological empowerment and job satisfaction is strong, positive and significant (Mathew & Nair, 2021 ).

Finally, Thomas and Velthouse ( 1990 ) identified the four dimensions of PE as the cognitive components of intrinsic task motivation. However, as Gagné et al. ( 1997 ) pointed out, although these authors equate feelings of empowerment with intrinsic motivation, they also argue that the four components of empowerment are a proximal cause of intrinsic task motivation and satisfaction (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990 ). Gagné et al. ( 1997 ) believed that motivation is not conceptually the same as its antecedents, but is rather the energy that prompts behavior. For its part, competence is a previous cognitive evaluation of both one's context and oneself. The more positive the result of the evaluation, the more energy is generated. Consequently, in the present study, although PE is considered a motivational factor, we do not assimilate it into the concept of intrinsic motivation, but view it rather as an antecedent.

Hypothesis 3c : PE will be negatively and significantly associated with job stress/strain and indicators of burnout. The greater the PE, the lower the level of job strain.

Hypothesis 3d : PE will be positively associated with job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 3e : PE will positively influence workers' intrinsic motivation.

Worker actions/behaviors

Finally, the aim is also to determine how PE affects worker behaviors, specifically performance, creativity, innovation and organizational citizenship. A key assumption of Thomas and Velthouse's cognitive empowerment model ( 1990 ) is the existence of a continuous cycle encompassing environmental events, task evaluations and behaviors. Environmental events provide information about the consequences of behaviors. Tasks can therefore be evaluated in accordance with PE, providing feedback regarding the individual's behavior (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990 ).

According to Spreitzer ( 1995a ), intrapersonal empowerment mediates the relationship between social-structural antecedents and innovative behavior. Innovation is the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization (Amabile, 1988 ). Empowered individuals who perceive themselves as competent are more likely to be innovative and creative due to their expectations of success, and because they feel less constrained by the rule-based aspects of their job (Amabile, 1988 ). Moreover, empowerment encourages members of the team to contribute in different ways to common activities (Spreitzer, 1999 ). It is therefore to be expected that more empowered individuals will perform better, engage in more organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and adopt a more active attitude to their job (Spreitzer, 2008 ). Sylvia Nabila et al. ( 2021 ) suggested that empowered employees are very responsible, make an extra work effort and are more creative in their jobs, which together tends to enhance their performance at work. Khan and Ghufran ( 2018 ) argue that the relationship between empowerment and OCB stems from the fact that whenever an employee feels that their job has meaning and that they themselves enjoy independence and freedom, are competent and have an impact, the more their behavior is oriented towards a direction that serves the organization—helping colleagues and customers and being courteous, conscientiousness and civic-minded.

Hypothesis 4a : PE will be positively associated with creativity and innovative behavior among workers.

Hypothesis 4b : PE will positively influence job performance.

Hypothesis 4c : PE will be positively associated with organizational citizenship behaviors.

The specific categories and primary variables of the antecedents and consequences of PE are outlined in detail in the Appendix (Tables 6 and 7 ).

Variables that moderate the relationship between PE and its antecedents and consequences

Participants were grouped into four age ranges: 19–29 years, 30–39 years, 40–49 years and over 50 s. Recent research has highlighted age discrimination as a common problem in organizations (Furunes & Mykletun, 2010 ). Age discrimination is the process by which workers are discriminated against solely on account of their age. Schermuly et al. ( 2014 ) have suggested that age discrimination may diminish PE and its components in a number of different ways, with stereotypes decreasing both performance and workers' perceptions of their own competence, and the selection of younger workers to the detriment of older ones reducing meaning. They also argue that the exclusion of older workers from decision-making and engagement processes may diminish both self-determination and impact.

In contrast, Dimitriades and Kufiduse ( 2004 ) found that empowerment was significantly associated with workers' age, and Spreitzer ( 1996 ) identified a positive relationship between age and the competence dimension of empowerment. Furthermore, after categorizing her sample into age ranges, Ozaralli ( 2003 ) found significant differences between those aged between 20 and 30 years and those aged over 40, concluding that older workers feel more empowered.

In light of the above, the aim here is to analyze whether workers' age influences the relationship between PE and either it antecedents ( Hypothesis 5a ) or its consequences ( Hypothesis 5b ). For example, a larger effect size (ES) in the relationship between individual worker characteristics and PE would indicate that the older the worker, the more their personal characteristics influence their PE.

Cultural differences

Recent research has compared the moderator effects of the collectivist and individualist outlooks on PE and its consequences, including job satisfaction and extra-role performance. Fock et al. ( 2011 ) found that the collectivist outlook heightened the effect of self-determination on job satisfaction. Cho and Faerman ( 2010 ) suggested that higher levels of organizational collectivism had a stronger effect on the relationship between PE and extra-role performance than lower levels of this outlook, and Kirkman and Shapiro ( 2001 ) found that teams with a higher level of collectivism reported more empowerment. It is therefore likely that people working in collectivist cultures define themselves as part of a group and prioritize group goals to a greater extent than those working in individualistic environments (Triandis, 2001 ). PE may be more effective in collectivist cultures because members of these cultures may react more strongly to signals that foster identification and inclusion, such as psychological empowerment (Seibert et al., 2011 ).

In contrast, other studies have reported opposite results. For example, Thomas and Rahschulte ( 2018 ) studied the moderating effects of power distance and individualism/collectivism on the relationship between empowering leadership and PE, finding that, in a sample from Rwanda, high levels of collectivism weakened the relationship between empowering leadership and PE among employees, whereas in the USA, the moderating effect of individualism enhanced this relationship.

In relation to power distance, Seibert et al. ( 2004 ) suggested that among people from cultures with a high power distance, a stimulating climate may generate feelings of stress rather than feelings of PE. According to Spreitzer ( 2008 , p.27), in a high power-distance culture, workers may react less positively to PA, since "it may be culturally inappropriate for employees at low levels of an organizational hierarchy to have a significant say in their work". In these high power-distance cultures, it may be that bosses perceive employees with high levels of self-determination and impact as a threat.

Bearing in mind the contradictory findings reported by the literature, in this study, our aim is to explore whether the cultural characteristics of the sample (categorized in accordance with continental origin) influence the relationship between PE and its antecedents and consequences.

Hypothesis 6 : We expect to find significant cultural differences in the associations between PE and its antecedents and consequences.

In their meta-analysis on the antecedents and consequences of PE, Seibert et al. ( 2011 ) suggested that the effectiveness of PE may differ in accordance with the type of occupation being studied. Specifically, employees from the services sector reacted to PE with greater job satisfaction than those working in the manufacturing industry. These authors also highlighted opposing predictions in the literature: if contact with customers provides greater job motivation, the need for PE may decrease; yet at the same time, said contact may increase PE, since workers have more opportunities for discretionary behavior (Seibert et al., 2011 ). In the present study, the aim is to determine whether type of occupation affects the relationship between PE and its antecedents and consequences.

Hypothesis 7a : Associations between PE and its antecedents will have larger ESs in those professions involving close contact with, or the provision of services to, other people.

Hypothesis 7b : Associations between PE and its consequences will have larger ESs in those professions involving close contact with, or the provision of services to, other people.

The present study therefore seeks to answer the following research questions:

What antecedents and consequences are associated with psychological empowerment?

What variables moderate the relationship between PE and its antecedents and consequences?

Following the proposal made by Rassol et al. ( 2019 ), below is a summary of the structure followed by the paper. Section 2 is devoted to the Method. This section outlines the research method, population, sample and inclusion criteria, describes the operationalization of the variables and the evidence provided by the extant literature, and specifies the data analysis strategies used. Section 3 includes a description of the studies included in the meta-analysis and the results of the data analysis; and Sect. 4 provides a discussion of the results, outlines limitations, suggests avenues for future research and explores theoretical and practical implications.

Research approach

The present study adopts a quantitative approach with the aim of emphasizing the accuracy of the measurement procedures and providing evidence in support of Spreitzer's psychological empowerment scale and its relationship with other organizational variables. The aim is to analyze existing confirmatory and objective research into empowerment. We focused on searching for studies that use a survey analysis approach, since this approach is common and enables broad level data to be collected from the target population (Wang et al., 2022 ). Moreover, findings from a large sample can be significantly generalized to the population (Asghar et al., 2022 ). The research method used in this meta-analysis has the advantage of providing more precise results in relation to the research problem under analysis, since said results are a mathematical aggregate of those reported by several studies examining the variables in question (Ankem, 2005 ).

To carry out this meta-analytical study, we followed the guidelines provided by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) declaration (Moher et al., 2009 ). The electronic search encompassed studies dating from after the publication of Spreitzer's paper outlining the construction and validation of the PE scale ( 1995b ) up until January 2019. It was conducted in digital databases and database aggregators (Web of Science, Ebsco Host, Cochrane library, Pubmed, Science Direct). Figure  2 lists all the databases used in the meta-analysis. We also used Metabus (Bosco et al., 2015 ), a research synthesis platform which offers an advanced search and synthesis engine, thereby representing a fast first step for conducting meta-analyses. A manual search was also performed of journals that habitually publish research in the field of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and which may have attracted studies on psychological empowerment. We included the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, the Journal of Applied Psychology, and the Academy of Management Journal in our search.

Flow diagram of the different phases of the systematic review (according to PRISMA). Note: In relation to EBSCO HOST, the following databases were selected from the database aggregator (Medline, Academic Search Premier, PsycInfo, PsycArticles, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, ERIC, Open Dissertations, PSICODOC, MLA International Bibliography with Full Text, MLA Directory of Periodicals, EBSCO eClassics Collection (EBSCOhost), International Political Science Abstracts, E-Journals, eBook Education Collection (EBSCOhost), eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), ERIC, Philosophers Index with Full Text, Library & Information Science Source Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts, Teacher Reference Center, and The Serials Directory)

For the majority of the databases searched we used the (TX Empower*) AND (TX Spreitzer) search strategy. In Web of Science, Pubmed and Science Direct, we used the following search chain in order to limit the results and distinguish between different types of empowerment: (Psychological Empowerment) OR (Empower*) NOT (Structural Empowerment) AND (Spreitzer). The search strategy used identified a total of 1110 records. We also identified 13 other studies from other sources, such as doctoral thesis repositories.

After checking the results, 336 duplicate studies were removed. The remaining 787 records were assessed on the basis of their abstracts, with 547 being excluded for not complying (for various reasons) with the inclusion criteria (see Fig.  2 ). Consequently, 240 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. Of these, 146 were excluded for being outside the scope of the review ( n  = 40), being reviews or meta-analyses ( n  = 2), not featuring the complete PE measure, featuring only certain dimensions ( n  = 43), being theoretical or qualitative studies ( n  = 4), not providing Pearson correlation measures ( n  = 46) or focusing on empowerment measures other than the theory developed by Spreitzer ( n  = 11).

Population, sample and inclusion criteria

To be included in this meta-analysis, articles had to comply with the following criteria: (a) they had to present a piece of correlational empirical research with a sample of workers from any organization; (b) they had to provide Pearson correlation coefficients (or equivalent) of the associations between PE and its antecedents and consequences; (c) the instrument used to measure PE had to be the 12-item scale developed by Spreitzer ( 1995b ), and articles had to provide a general measure of PE; and (d) they had to be written in English, French, Italian or Spanish.

A total of 94 empirical articles were finally included in the meta-analysis, providing 331 independent effect sizes (ESs) with a total of 42,212 participants. Most of the studies included used purposive or convenience sampling and had a cross-sectional study design. Bhatnagar ( 2005 ) used a survey design, but the sampling was randomized, with the organization being chosen first, followed by the sample.

Operationalization of the variables and the evidence provided by the extant literature

First, we compiled a Record Protocol for the moderator variables included in the articles, distinguishing between methodological, substantive and extrinsic characteristics (Sanchez-Meca, 2010 ). The methodological characteristics were sample size, type of non-experimental design (cross-sectional vs. longitudinal) and the reliability measure pertaining to Spreitzer's scale. Substantive characteristics were those linked to participants and context. In relation to participants, the percentage of women in the sample was coded, along with participants' age range (distributed across four groups: 19–29 years, 30–39 years, 40–49 years and over 50 s) and professional category (healthcare, security, services, industry/computing, education and banking/administration). The contextual variable was the location of the study (continent). Extrinsic characteristics were the year in which the study was carried out and the source of publication (published vs. unpublished). Articles were coded independently by two coders. To ensure consistency and guarantee reliability, the coders met to review the results and reach a consensus independently for each sample (Orwin & Vevea, 2010 ).

We also coded the antecedents of PE, distinguishing between psychosocial and organizational factors and individual worker characteristics. Variables linked to the consequences of PE were divided into three groups: affective reactions, attitudinal reactions and worker behaviors.

Data analysis strategies

In this meta-analysis, we extracted information about effect size (ES) in the associations between PE and its antecedents and consequences. We used the Comprehensive Meta-analysis 2.0 program to carry out the analyses (Borenstein et al., 2005 ). Effect size was calculated as the Pearson correlation ( r ), processed using Fisher's Z transformation. To calculate ES, subgroups were combined using the random effects model. The significance level of Z and the confidence intervals (95%) were analyzed to determine the statistical significance of each association between PE and its correlates. To interpret the magnitude of the ES, we followed the empirical guidelines proposed by Hemphill ( 2003 ): r  < 0.20 = small ES; r between 0.20 and 0.30 = medium ES; and r  > 0.30 = large ES.

To determine heterogeneity, the Q statistic and the I 2 index were calculated. If the Q statistic reaches statistical significance, this means that the different ESs are heterogeneous and are not well represented by the mean effect size. The I 2 index quantifies the heterogeneity existing between studies in percentage terms (Sanchez-Meca, 2010 ). If there is heterogeneity between the ESs, then the influence of moderator variables must be examined. I 2 indexes of around 50% or 75% may respectively be interpreted as medium and high (Borenstein et al., 2009 ). In this meta-analysis, since the I 2 values were high, analyses of variance were performed using weighted ANOVA techniques. The age range of the sample was analyzed, along with continent of origin and type of profession, with the aim of determining whether or not these variables moderated the associations observed between PE and its correlates.

Description of the studies

Of the 94 articles included in the systematic review, 4 were published between 1995 and 2000, 24 between 2001 and 2009 and 66 between 2010 and 2019. The majority were written in English. Only one was written in Spanish and five were in French. The mean age of participants in all samples was 36.15 ( SD  = 8.22). The percentage of women in the total sample was 55.90 ( SD  = 22.22). Samples mostly came from Asia and America (with 39 and 40 samples, respectively); Europe had 13 and Oceania and Africa had one each.

Antecedents of PE

Table 1 presents a meta-analytical summary of the antecedents of PE. We include the effect size for each meta-analysis, along with the Z significance level, the 95% confidence interval, the Q statistic and the I 2 index. Of all the results found in the meta-analyses, only those pertaining to education (r = -0.001, CI [-0.06, 0.06]) and organizational rank ( r  = 0.10, CI [-0.16, 0.36]) were non-significant. The results of the meta-analyses of the associations between psychosocial and organizational variables and PE were significant, with large, positive ES values. The largest ES found ( r  = 0.40) was for leadership. These results support Hypotheses 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d. As regards individual worker characteristics, organizational tenure had a small ES ( r  = 0.12), negative personality characteristics a medium ES ( r  = -0.22) and positive personality characteristics a large ES ( r  = 0.31). These findings support Hypotheses 2a, 2d and 2e. In terms of heterogeneity, all I 2 indexes were over 75%, a value interpreted by Borenstein et al. ( 2009 ) as indicative of high heterogeneity. Consequently, we evaluated the influence of the moderator variables as predictors of ES.

Consequences of PE

Table 2 presents a meta-analytical summary of the consequences of PE. All the meta-analyses carried out returned significant results. Job satisfaction ( r  = 0.50) and organizational commitment ( r  = 0.51) had the largest ESs. Turnover intention ( r  = -0.36) and job strain ( r  = -0.30) had large but negative ESs. Organizational citizenship behaviors were significant, but had a small ES ( r  = 0.18). These results support Hypothesis groups 3 and 4. The I 2 indexes were high, with the exception of creativity (68.48%) and organizational citizenship behaviors (62.9%), for which medium values were obtained. Again, the decision was made to evaluate the variables influencing this heterogeneity between ESs.

Analysis of moderator variables

Table 3 presents the results of the weighted analyses of variance by participants’ age range. We calculated the QW statistic, which indicates the existence of homogeneity within each category, and the QB statistic, which indicates the existence of differences between the mean ES in each category. In relation to psychosocial and organizational variables, both types of statistic were significant in every meta-analysis carried out. This indicates that in addition to the workers’ age range, other relevant mediator variables exist that explain the heterogeneity observed among ESs. Work role and content ( r  = 0.35) and social support ( r  = 0.08) had smaller ESs among older age ranges.

As for individual characteristics, both positive ( r  = 0.47) and negative characteristics ( r  = -0.36) had larger ESs among older age ranges. Significant values were found only for organizational tenure among the middle age ranges: 30–39 ( r  = 0.17) and 40–49 years ( r  = 0.13). As regards the consequences of PE, only creativity was found not to be significant (QB = 3.84, p  = 0.27). Organizational commitment obtained large ESs in all age ranges, whereas turnover intention ( r  = -0.61) had larger ESs in the upper age range. All affective reactions had larger ESs in the older age ranges, whereas performance was higher in the medium ranges. These results partially support Hypotheses 5a and 5b, since PE was found to vary in accordance with worker age range.

Table 4 presents the results of the ANOVAs by sample origin. In terms of psychosocial and organizational variables, work role and content ( r  = -0.05, CI [-0.10, 0.007]) were not significant for America, although they were for the other continents. Social support ( r  = 0.42), leadership ( r  = 0.46) and structural empowerment ( r  = 0.43) obtained larger ESs in collectivist cultures. Regarding individual characteristics, no significant differences were observed between the ESs for organizational tenure. Asian countries had larger ESs than America in terms of the influence of negative personality characteristics.

Significant differences were found for all the consequences of PE in terms of continent of origin. All continents obtained large, similar ESs for organizational commitment. Individualistic cultures had larger ESs in turnover intention ( r  = -0.63), job satisfaction ( r  = 0.77) and creativity ( r  = 0.47). Collectivist cultures only scored higher for job strain ( r  = -0.46). Large ESs were observed for performance in Europe and Africa, whereas Asia and America had moderate ESs. These results do not enable Hypothesis 6 to be rejected, since differences were observed in ESs in accordance with the continent on which the studies were carried out.

Table 5 presents the results of the ANOVAs by participant profession. Professions linked to health and education obtained larger ESs for social support ( r  = 0.38, r  = 0.55). The ES for leadership was larger among those who worked in banking ( r  = 0.45) and industry/computing ( r  = 0.41). Structural empowerment obtained smaller values in the services sector ( r  = 0.29). The ES of work content was large in health and services, and negative in education ( r  = -0.51). As regards organizational tenure, the results for banking were not significant, whereas ESs were very small for all other professions. The largest ESs in the positive personality category were found for health ( r  = 0.28), services ( r  = 0.41) and education ( r  = 0.40).

Finally, in professions involving contact with people, the largest ESs were found for organizational commitment ( r  = 0.66), turnover intention ( r  = -0.61), job strain ( r  = -0.43) and job satisfaction ( r  = 0.73). Intrinsic motivation was higher in industry ( r  = 0.48) and banking ( r  = 0.41). No differences were observed between the ESs obtained for any worker behavior. These results partially support Hypotheses 7a and 7b.

The present study aimed to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis of correlational studies focused on the concept of PE developed by Spreitzer et al. ( 1995a , b ). As well as enabling a better understanding of the antecedents and consequences of PE, the study also aimed to explore potential moderators of the relationship between this variable and its correlates. Finally, the aim was also to compare the results obtained with those reported by other meta-analyses of PE.

Firstly, following the meta-analytical model tested by Seibert et al. ( 2011 ), the antecedents of PE were divided into two categories, psychosocial and organization factors, and individual worker characteristics. The four psychosocial factors (structural empowerment, leadership, work role and social support and trust in the organization) were found to have a significant, strong, positive effect on workers' PE. This finding is consistent with that reported by Seibert et al. ( 2011 ), who also observed strong associations between contextual factors and PE. Indeed, solid evidence exists of the relationship between certain characteristics of leaders and leadership styles and PE (Allameh et al., 2012 ; Bagget, 2015 ; Dust et al., 2018 ; Gumusluoglu & Ilsev, 2009 ; Yahia et al., 2017 ). As regards high-performance managerial practices, Maynard et al. ( 2013 ) studied them separately from structural empowerment in order to highlight the differences that exist in their relationship with PE. Nevertheless, these authors found correlations between PE and high-performance managerial practices that were similar to those found in relation to structural empowerment. In the present meta-analysis, high-performance managerial practices and structural empowerment were included in a single category, with the results indicating that they act as a strong antecedent of PE. In this sense, Messersmith et al. ( 2012 ) observed that building an effective human resources system may have a powerful influence on the attitudes and behaviors of individual employees. As regards social support and trust in the organization, the results indicate that when participants perceive real rewards, trust and support, this leads to greater PE. Both rewards received and income were included in this category, since they are considered tangible assets that can be perceived by workers. In the meta-analysis by Seibert et al. ( 2011 ), however, they were included in the high-performance managerial practices factor. As with the other psychosocial factors, work role and content were found to be strong correlates of PE.

The results pertaining to individual worker characteristics revealed that education and organizational rank did not influence PE. These results are consistent with those found by Seibert et al. ( 2011 ). However, they contradict those reported by Spreitzer ( 1995b ), who found that, in demographic terms, more empowered employees tended to have higher education levels, greater tenure and a higher rank (Spreitzer, 2008 ). Our data suggest that although tenure in the organization does have an influence on PE, it is a weak one. In their meta-analysis, Maynard et al. ( 2013 ) found non-significant correlations between tenure and experience at the organization and PE. Further research and longitudinal studies are required to determine whether individual factors such as gender, age, education and organizational rank may offer a causal explanation for the differences observed in empowerment levels. Nevertheless, the fact that different meta-analyses have reported non-significant or low values in relation to these individual variables leads us to suspect that they are not relevant to empowerment.

In contrast, personality factors were found to be strong antecedents of PE, as indeed posited by the theory of PE (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990 ). Workers who often attribute negative organizational experiences or failures to uncontrollable sources tend to believe they cannot be changed. Moreover, they view effort and outcomes as independent factors. These perceptions may diminish empowerment and inhibit the development of positive expectations (Huang, 2012 ).

The consequences of PE were divided into three categories: affective reactions, attitudinal reactions and worker behaviors. All the factors included in the affective and attitudinal reactions categories were found to be strongly associated with PE. PE therefore acts as a motivational factor that may generate emotional reactions and dispose people to act in a positive manner within the organization. More empowered employees are committed to their organization and are less likely to want to leave, prompting them to behave in a way that contributes to the achievement of common goals. They also have strong affective reactions. They feel satisfied with their job, experience less strain or stress at work and have more intrinsic motivation, understood as the energy resulting from their assessment of the context as empowering. In the present meta-analysis, we believed it was important to separate attitudes from emotional reactions. However, other authors have analyzed these factors together, in the same group, obtaining similar results regarding the strength of their association with PE (Seibert et al., 2011 ; Maynard et al., 2013 ). Li et al. ( 2018 ) also found significant results in their meta-analysis of the relationship between PE and job satisfaction.

As regards worker behaviors, high, significant values were found for creativity. Employees with a greater degree of PE may feel more attracted to their work, propose more creative ideas and resolve more problems (Duan et al., 2018 ). Our results also indicate a statistically significant (although moderate) positive association between PE and performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. This finding is consistent with that reported by Seibert et al. ( 2011 ) and suggests that PE manifests as a motivational factor which impacts attitudes and emotions more than the direct achievement of targets and goals. Nevertheless, more longitudinal research is required in this sense to explore these indirect relationships between PE and worker behaviors, mediated by attitudes and emotions.

Moderators of PE: age, origin and professional area

In relation to the moderators of PE, our results indicate that age moderates the relationship between this variable and the majority of the antecedents studied. In terms of work role and content and social support, our results revealed that older workers were less empowered, and in relation to leadership and structural empowerment, it was the mid-range age groups that scored highest. Younger workers may be more influenced by organizational factors, reacting more strongly to their presence and therefore becoming more empowered than their older counterparts. This is consistent with that reported by Schermuly et al. ( 2014 ), who found that age discrimination may decrease perceived PE. Older workers may be discriminated against in the hiring process or not receive the same opportunities for professional development as their younger colleagues, which results in a drop in PE among older age groups. In relation to personality characteristics, higher levels of PE were found among older age groups. McCrae et al., ( 1999 , p. 472) suggest that older adults differ from their younger counterparts by being better able to control their impulses, searching less for emotions and being more morally responsible. This may explain why older workers, who report greater perceived self-control, are more empowered than their younger counterparts.

In terms of the consequences of PE, no differences were observed in creativity in accordance with age. Abra ( 1989 ) argues that creativity may simply change rather than decline with age. Higher age ranges scored higher for turnover intention and affective reactions. Our results are consistent with those obtained by Thomas and Feldman ( 2009 ), who found that age was related to voluntary turnover and that race, tenure and education level helped explain the differences observed between the different age ranges. Similarly, Clark et al. ( 1996 ) proposed a U-shaped explanation for the relationship between job satisfaction and age, suggesting that young workers may feel satisfied because they have little work experience, but as they learn, they are better able to judge their working conditions, meaning that satisfaction may drop as they enter the middle age ranges. This finding is consistent with the association observed in our study between PE and job satisfaction.

Large ESs were found for organizational commitment in all age ranges, with values being slightly higher among the younger age groups. Younger workers may be more empowered and committed to their organizations at the start of their working life, since they do not have the benefit of being able to compare their current job with any previous ones. Finally, performance was higher in the middle age ranges and indeed, participants who had been working for longer at their organizations were only empowered in these ranges. These findings suggest that performance may be strongly influenced by tenure. Indeed, Suhonen ( 2019 ) found significant associations between age, tenure, general self-efficacy and performance.

The next moderator studied was the origin of the sample. In collectivist cultures, psychosocial factors and negative personality characteristics (antecedents of PE) had a stronger impact on workers' PE. Consistently with this, Walumbwa and Lawler ( 2003 ) also found that collectivist cultural orientations influenced perceptions of transformational leadership and work-related outcomes such as satisfaction and commitment. For their part, in a study focusing on Germany, Romania and China, Felfe et al. ( 2008 ) found that the correlation between leadership and employee attitudes was stronger among those from highly collectivist cultures.

Our results also suggest that personality characteristics such as external locus of control may negatively affect PE more strongly in collectivist and high power-distance cultures. This may be due to the fact that people with an external locus of control are often motivated by external rewards and are fearful of taking risks. In this sense, Elliot et al. ( 2001 ) found that more collectivist cultures were associated with greater negativism and more attention to negative personal information.

Significant differences were observed in all the consequences of PE in relation to the cultural origin of the samples. Cultures with a greater power distance scored higher for job strain. As suggested previously, an empowering climate may generate feelings of stress in these cultures, since it may be culturally inappropriate for workers at lower levels of the hierarchy to have a significant say in their work (Seibert et al.  2004 ; Spreitzer, 2008 , p.66). Nevertheless, all the continents studied obtained high (and similar) scores for organizational commitment. Some authors have suggested that power distance must be fairly high to result in negative attitudes in response to empowerment practices (Robert et al., 2000 ), claiming that in some high power-distance cultures, such as India, for example, employees may prefer hierarchical structures, while in others, such as Mexico, they simply tolerate them. This implies that employees may react more negatively in some collectivist cultures than in others.

Our data also revealed that PE had a significant positive influence on turnover intention, job satisfaction, creativity and organizational citizenship behaviors in all cultures, although scores were higher in individualistic ones. The findings reported by previous studies in this sense are contradictory, with some observing higher satisfaction levels in collectivist cultures, and others reporting the same in individualistic ones (Hui et al., 1995 ; Harrison, 1995 ; cited by Noordin & Jusoff, 2010 ). Noordin and Jusoff ( 2010 ) therefore recommend that researchers exercise caution when using cultural values to try to understand human behaviors in organizations, arguing that although the attitudes and values of a country are usually rooted in society, they may also change over time as external environmental transformations take place. Higher levels of performance were observed in Africa in the presence of PE. In this sense, Jackson et al. ( 2006 ) found that psychological collectivism was positively associated with supervisor ratings of group member job performance and organizational citizenship behaviors.

As regards the influence of profession on the relationship between PE and its correlates, in our study we found that in professions characterized by providing a service to others, such as healthcare and education, workers were more empowered in the presence of social support and trust in the organization. This finding may be explained by the uneven distribution of gender across the labor market, since there is a predominance of women in these professions. For example, Liebler and Sandefur ( 2002 ) found that women tended to report giving and receiving more support to/from non-family members, and in a study carried out with healthcare workers, Wallace ( 2013 ) found that women received more empathy, attention, advice and work-related information from their colleagues than men. In stereotypically male professions with a stricter structural hierarchy, such as industry for example, leadership style was found to generate larger effect sizes in our study. García-Ael ( 2015 ) also found that, in leadership positions in occupations generally considered to be male dominated, characteristics linked to agency are strongly emphasized, thereby resulting in a strengthening of gender roles.

Work roles, perceived control and demands and positive personality characteristics resulted in greater PE in stereotypically female professions, such as healthcare and the services sector. The better defined the individual's role in the organization, the more likely they are to believe they have an impact on it (Boudrias et al., 2010 ). In a study carried out with hotel employees, Kim et al. ( 2009 ) found that the effect of role stress on job satisfaction was greater among female workers and supervisors than among male workers.

Finally, professions such as healthcare, education and services were also found to generate greater organizational commitment, turnover intention, job strain and job satisfaction. In contrast, intrinsic motivation was higher in industry and banking. Davies et al. ( 2011 ) found that women attach greater importance to prosocial values and have a stronger role identity as organizational citizens who provide aid to colleagues. Women also engage more often in group or individual-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. Indeed, Rivera-Torres et al. ( 2013 ) have suggested that the generation of job strain follows a different pattern in men and women, and that social support mitigates job strain more among women than among men.

Limitations

The principal bias in the present study is publication bias. Published studies may not accurately represent all the studies carried out on empowerment and its correlates. We also included articles with small samples (Messersmith et al., 2012 ), which may have skewed the results. Another important bias is location bias, since we only took into account articles written in English, Spanish, Italian and French, which limited our opportunity to locate studies written in other languages on the topic under study.

Another limitation is linked to study design, since many of the correlational studies included our meta-analysis were cross-sectional in nature, thereby implying validity problems since no causal relationships can be established between constructs. Moreover, high correlations between constructs, as in the case, for example, of intrinsic motivation and PE, may suggest empirical redundancy (i.e., a lack of differentiation between the two). In cross-sectional research, it is not possible to empirically distinguish between constructs, due to their reciprocally causal relationship (Le et al., 2010 ). It is also important to highlight the fact that all the studies included in the present meta-analysis measured correlations between the variables analyzed and PE. However, in some, these variables were not classified as either antecedents or consequences of PE, and only their correlation was studied. In many cases, given the cross-sectional nature of the design, directionality cannot be assessed in any way other than in relation to existing literature on the subject. These theoretical considerations may result in classification bias. Furthermore, the variables analyzed were not always central to the study design, but were rather used as control data. This is the case, for example, with organizational rank and tenure. However, these variables are treated here as predictors of PE. Table 8 in the Appendix provides a list of the studies included in the meta-analysis and the variables they analyze as correlates of PE.

Finally, no distinction is made in the present study between individual and team psychological empowerment. The inclusion criteria were to have used Spreitzer's scale ( 1995b ) as a measure of empowerment, and to have obtained a Pearson correlation measure (or equivalent) in order to calculate effect size. This lack of distinction between the individual and group levels may imply a degree of publication bias. Nevertheless, in the present study, priority was given to the concept of overall empowerment, without determining whether or not sample levels were aggregated.

Future directions and theoretical and practical implications

In our initial approach to the meta-analysis presented here, we included organizational identification as an antecedent of PE. Some authors believe that perceived PE may emerge in accordance with how employees identify with their organization, how they value it and how it contributes to their self-definition (Prati & Zani, 2013 ). An individual's sense of being part of their organization may result in a greater perception of power in the workplace (Prati & Zani, 2013 ). However, after reviewing the extant literature, we found a lack of correlation studies in this area. Further research is therefore required into the influence of organizational identification.

Another variable that we could not include due to a lack of existing studies was job crafting, a proactive behavior that enables employees to model their jobs and change certain physical, cognitive and relational aspects of their work activity (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001 ). Studies focusing on job crafting as a means of generating greater empowerment in organizations are becoming increasingly important (Hulshof et al., 2020 ) and future meta-analyses should strive to include these theoretical developments.

Furthermore, although considerable research has explored the antecedents of psychological empowerment, few studies have examined goal orientation. In some studies, psychological empowerment is viewed as the link between goal orientation or task characteristics and employee creativity (Matsuo, 2022 ), and one concluded that there was a positive interaction effect between developmental job experience and learning goal orientation on psychological empowerment (Matsuo, 2021 ).

After evaluating cultural differences in relation to PE, we believe it is important to recommend that managers make an effort to determine the prevailing cultural values in their organizations, and take national collectivism and power distance data into account also. However, although it is true that research has found that the origin of the sample affects both PE and its correlates, some authors have reported contradictory data in two collectivist countries, suggesting that caution should be exercised in this regard (Robert et al., 2000 ). The GLOBE project (Javidan & Dastmalchian, 2009 ) analyzed different cultural and leadership dimensions (which have important implications for management) in different countries, finding that managers need to know how to adapt their behavior when relating to employees from other cultures and societies.

Our results also suggest which factors may be more important for generating empowerment among employees in accordance with the profession in which they work. Moreover, we have linked the inequality and gender stereotypes that exist in different professions with those variables that influence PE, which may have important practical implications. Providing more organizational support to healthcare and education workers, or focusing attention on leadership style in banking and industry, are two examples of recommended interventions.

According to Jocelyne and Kariuki ( 2020 ), empowerment initiatives or programs focused on the physical, mental, financial, and spiritual well-being of employees lead to a workplace in which people are motivated and possess a sense of purpose. Therefore, our results allow us to recommend interventions that enhance and improve the antecedents of EP. Examples include running training programs or courses for supervisors that promote transformational or authentic leadership styles, using high-performance managerial practices, improving support for workers by showing an interest in their well-being, ensuring adequate working conditions and ergonomics, and avoiding excessive demands and repetitive shift changes, among others.

Finally, the present meta-analysis may help encourage organizations to pay more attention to the antecedents and consequences of PE, focusing their efforts on improving or strengthening certain structures or factors. Almost a decade after the publication of Seibert et al.'s meta-analysis ( 2011 ), we are able to reaffirm and add new information to the model they proposed. As stated earlier, more longitudinal research is required to clarify whether the correlates of PE analyzed in the literature offer a causal explanation of the differences observed in empowerment levels, and underexplored areas such as organizational identification, job crafting, goal orientation and engagement also require further study.

In view of the above, managers should recognize the importance of adopting appropriate leadership styles, maintaining a suitable work environment, and offering workers greater access to support, resources, information, learning, innovation and growth, among other empowering actions.

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Studies marked with an asterisk were included in the meta-analysis

Abra, J. (1989). Changes in creativity with age: Data, explanations, and further predictions. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 28 (2), 105–126. https://doi.org/10.2190/E0YT-K1YQ-3T2T-Y3EQ

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Ahmad, N., & Oranye, O. (2010). Empowerment, job satisfaction and organizational commitment: A comparative analysis of nurses working in Malaysia and England. Journal of Nursing Management, 18 , 582–591. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01093.x

Aljarameez, F. (2019). The relationships of structural empowerment, psychological empowerment and organizational commitment in Saudi and non-Saudi registered staff nurses in Saudi Arabia [ProQuest Information & Learning]. In Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences  (Vol. 81, Issue 5–A).

*Allameh, S.M., Heydari, M.& Davoodi, S.M.R. (2012). Studying the relationship between transformational leadership and psychological empowerment of teachers in Abade Township . Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 31 , 224–230, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.12.046 .

Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 63 , 1–18.

Article   Google Scholar  

Allport, G. W. (1935). Attitudes. In C. Murchison (Ed.), Handbook of social psychology (pp. 798–844). Clark University Press.

Google Scholar  

Amabile, T. M. (1988). A model of creativity and innovation in organizations. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior, 10 (pp. 123–167). JAI Press.

Ankem, A. (2005). Approaches to meta-analysis: A guide for LIS researchers. Library & Information Science Research, 27 (2), 164–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2005.01.003

Arnold, J. A., Arad, S., Rhoades, J. A., & Drasgow, F. (2000). The empowering leadership questionnaire: The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring leader behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21 (3), 249–269.

Asghar, M.Z., Barbera, E., Rasool, S.F., Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, P., Mohelská, H. (2022). Adoption of social media-based knowledge-sharing behaviour and authentic leadership development: evidence from the educational sector of Pakistan during COVID-19. Journal of Knowledge Management , vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-11-2021-0892

Avolio, B. J., & Bass, B. M. (2004). Multifactor leadership questionnaire (3rd ed.). Mind Garden.

Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 16 (3), 315–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.001

Avolio, B. J., Zhu, W., Koh, W., & Bhatia, P. (2004). Transformational leadership and organizational commitment: Mediating role of psychological empowerment and moderating role of structural distance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25 (8), 951–968. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.283

*Bagget, G. (2015). Transformational leadership and psychological empowerment of teachers. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Alabama Libraries]. https://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/2268 . Accessed 15 Feb 2022

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84 , 191–215.

Bhatnagar, J. (2005). The power of psychological empowerment as an antecedent to organizational commitment in Indian managers. Human Resource Development International, 8 , 419–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678860500356101

Bhatnagar, J. (2012). Management of innovation: role of psychological empowerment, work engagement and turnover intention in the Indian context. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23 (5), 928–951. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2012.651313

Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2009). Introduction to metaanalysis . Wiley.

Book   Google Scholar  

Borenstein, M., Hedges, L., Higgins, J., and Rothstein, H. (2005). Comprehensive Meta-Analysis, Version 2 . Biostat.

Bosco, F. A., Steel, P., Oswald, F., Uggerslev, K.& Field, J.G. (2015). Cloudbased meta-analysis to bridge science and practice: Welcome to metaBUS. Personnel Assessment and Decisions , 1 (1), 2. https://doi.org/10.25035/pad.2015.002

*Boudrias, J., Rousseau, V., Migneault, P., Morin, A., & Courcy, F. (2010). Habilitation psychologique: Validation d’une mesure en langue française. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 69 , 147–159.

Calvo, J. A., & García, G. M. (2018). Hardiness as moderator of the relationship between structural and psychological empowerment on burnout in middle managers. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology , 91 (2), 362–384. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uned.es/10.1111/joop.12194 . Accessed 29 Mar 2022

*Chen, G., Sharma, P. N., Edinger, S. K., Shapiro, D. L., & Farh, J.-L. (2011). Motivating and demotivating forces in teams: Cross-level influences of empowering leadership and relationship conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96 (3), 541–557. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021886

Cho, T., & Faerman, S. R. (2010). An integrative model of empowerment and individuals’ in-role and extra-role performance in the korean public sector: Moderating effects of organizational individualism and collectivism. International Public Management Journal, 13 (2), 130–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/10967491003769339

Clark, A. E., Oswald, A., & Warr, P. (1996). Is Job Satisfaction U-shaped in age? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 69 , 57–121.

Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1988). The empowerment process: Integrating theory and practice. Academy of Management Review, 13 , 471–482.

Davies, A., Wong, C. A., & Laschinger, H. (2011). Nurses’ participation in personal knowledge transfer: The role of leader–member exchange (LMX) and structural empowerment. Journal of Nursing Management, 19 , 632–643.

Dimitriades, Z., & Koufidou, S. (2004). Individual, job, organizational and contextual correlates of empowerment: Some Greek evidence. Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies, 9 (2), 36–43.

*Duan, S., Liu, Z., & Che, H. (2018). Mediating influences of ethical leadership on employee creativity. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 46 , 323–337. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.6160

*Dust, S. B., Resick, C. J., Margolis, J. A., Mawritz, M. B., & Greenbaum, R. L. (2018). Ethical leadership and employee success: Examining the roles of psychological empowerment and emotional exhaustion. The Leadership Quarterly, 29 (5), 570–583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.02.002

Elliot, A. J., Chirkov, V. I., Kim, Y., & Sheldon, K. M. (2001). A Cross-cultural Analysis of Avoidance (Relative to Approach) Personal Goals. Psychological Science (0956–7976), 12 (6), 505. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uned.es/10.1111/1467-9280.00393 . Accessed 4 Aug 2022

*Ergeneli, A., Arı, G., & Camgoz, S. (2007). Psychological empowerment and its relationship to trust in immediate managers. Journal of Business Research, 60 , 41–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.09.012

Felfe, J., Yan, W., & Six, B. (2008). The impact of individual collectivism on commitment and its influence on organizational citizenship behaviour and turnover in three countries. International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 8 , 211–237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470595808091790

*Fock, H., Chiang, F., Au, K. Y., & Hui, M. K. (2011). The moderating effect of collectivistic orientation in psychological empowerment and job satisfaction relationship. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30 (2), 319–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2010.08.002

Furunes, T., & Mykletun, R. J. (2010). Age discrimination in the workplace: Validation of the Nordic Age Discrimination Scale (NADS). Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51 , 23–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00738.x

Gagné, M., Senécal, C., & Koestner, R. (1997). Proximal job characteristics, feelings of empowerment, and intrinsic motivation: A multidimensional model. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27 , 1222–1240.

García-Ael, C. (2015). Discriminación femenina en el ámbito laboral: aspectos descriptivos, prescriptivos y contextuales de los estereotipos de género . [Doctoral Thesis, UNED]. E-spacio UNED. http://e-spacio.uned.es/fez/view/tesisuned:Psicologia-Mcgarcia . Accessed 8 May 2022

Gill, H., Cassidy, S. A., Cragg, C., Algate, P., Weijs, C. A., & Finegan, J. E. (2019). Beyond reciprocity: the role of empowerment in understanding felt trust. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432x.2019.1678586

*Gumusluoglu, L., & Ilsev, A. (2009). Transformational leadership, creativity, and organizational innovation. Journal of Business Research, 62 (4), 461–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.07.032

Harrison, G. L. (1995). Satisfaction, tension and interpersonal relations: a cross-cultural comparison of managers in Singapore and Australia. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 10 (8), 13–19.

Hemphill, J. (2003). Interpreting the magnitude of correlation coefficients. The American Psychologist, 58 , 78–79. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.58.1.78

*Hepworth, W., & Towler, A. (2004). The effects of individual differences and charismatic leadership on workplace aggression. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 9 (2), 176–185.

Heron, L., & Bruk-lee, V. (2019). When empowered nurses are under stress: Understanding the impact on attitudes and behaviours. Stress and Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 36 (2), 147–159. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2905

*Hill, N. S., Kang, J. H., & Seo, M.-G. (2014). The interactive effect of leader–member exchange and electronic communication on employee psychological empowerment and work outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 25 (4), 772–783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.04.006

Hobfoll, S. E. (2001). The influence of culture, community, and the nested-self in the stress process: Advancing conservation of resources theory. Applied Psychology, 50 , 337–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/1464-0597.00062

*Huang, X. (2012). Helplessness of empowerment: The joint effect of participative leadership and controllability attributional style on empowerment and performance. Human Relations, 65 , 313–334. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726711429876

Hui, C. H., Yee, C., & Eastman, K. L. (1995). The relationship betweenindividualism-collectivism and job satisfaction. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 44 (3), 276–282. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1995.tb01080.x

Hulshof, I. L., Demerouti, E., & Le Blanc, P. M. (2020). Providing services during times of change: Can employees maintain their levels of empowerment, work engagement and service quality through a job crafting intervention? Frontiers in Psychology, 11 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00087

Islam, T., Khan, M. M., & Bukhari, F. H. (2016). The role of organizational learning culture and psychological empowerment in reducing turnover intention and enhancing citizenship behavior. The Learning Organization, 23 (2/3), 156–169. https://doi.org/10.1108/tlo-10-2015-0057

Jackson, C., Colquitt, J., Wesson, M., & Zapata-Phelan, C. (2006). Psychological collectivism: A measurement validation and linkage to group member performance. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 91 , 884–899. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.4.884

Jang, E. (2022). Authentic leadership and task performance via psychological capital: The moderated mediation role of performance pressure. Frontiers in Psychology, 13 , 722214. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.722214

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

*Janssen, O. (2004). The barrier effect of conflict with superiors in the relationship between employee empowerment and organizational commitment. Work & Stress, 18 (1), 56–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678370410001690466

Javidan, M., & Dastmalchian, A. (2009). Managerial Implications of the GLOBE Project: A study of 62 societies. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 47 , 41–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1038411108099289

Jocelyne, S., & Kariuki, M. (2020). Human capital, employee empowerment and organization performance. International Academic Journal of Human Resource and Business Administration, 3 (9), 319–332.

*Kabat-Farr, D., Cortina, L. M., & Marchiondo, L. A. (2018). The emotional aftermath of incivility: Anger, guilt, and the role of organizational commitment. International Journal of Stress Management, 25 (2), 109–128. https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000045

Kanter, R. M. (1977). Men and women of the corporation . Basic Books.

Karasek, R. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude and mental strain: Implications for job re-design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24 , 285–308.

Kark, R., Shamir, B., & Chen, G. (2003). The two faces of transformational leadership: Empowerment and dependency. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88 , 246–255.

Khan, R. U., & Ghufran, H. (2018). The mediating role of perceived organizational support between qualitative job insecurity, organizational citizenship behavior and job performance. Journal of Entrepreneurship an Organization Management, 7 (1), 1–7.

Kim, B. P., Murrmann, S. K., & Lee, G. (2009). Moderating effects of gender and organizational level between role stress and job satisfaction among hotel employees. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28 (4), 612–619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2009.04.001

Kirkman, B. L., & Rosen, B. (1999). Beyond self-management: Antecedents and consequences of team empowerment. Academy of Management Journal, 42 (1), 58–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/256874

Kirkman, B. L., & Shapiro, D. L. (2001). The impact of team members’ cultural values on productivity, cooperation, and empowerment in self-managing work teams. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32 (5), 597–617.

*Koberg, C. S., Boss, R. W., Senjem, J. C., & Goodman, E. A. (1999). Antecedents and outcomes of empowerment: Empirical evidence from the health care industry. Group & Organization Management, 24 (1), 71–91.

Laschinger, H. K., Finegan, J., Shamian, J., & Almost, J. (2001a). Testing karasek’s demands-control model in restructured healthcare settings. Journal of Nursing Administration, 31 (5), 233–243.

Laschinger, H. K. S., Finegan, J., & Shamian, J. (2001b). Promoting nurses’ health: Effect of empowerment on job strain and work satisfaction. Nursing Economics, 19 (2), 42–52.

Laschinger, H. K. S., Wong, C. A., Cummings, G. G., & Grau, A. L. (2014). Resonant leadership and workplace empowerment: The value of positive organizational cultures in reducing workplace incivility. Nursing Economics, 32 , 5–44.

PubMed   Google Scholar  

Le, H., Schmidt, F. L., Harter, J. K., & Lauver, K. J. (2010). The problem of empirical redundancy of constructs in organizational research: An empirical investigation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 112 (2), 112–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.02.003

Leiter, M. P., & Schaufeli, W. B. (1996). Consistency of the burnout construct across occupations. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 9 , 229–243.

Li, H., Ying, S., Li, Y., Xing, Z., Shouqi, W., Jie, Y., Meiling, Z., & Jiao, S. (2018). Relationship between nurse psychological empowerment and job satisfaction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 74 , 1264–1277. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13549

Liebler, C. A., & Sandefur, G. D. (2002). Gender differences in the exchange of social support with friends, neighbors, and co-workers at midlife. Social Science Research, 31 (3), 364–391. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0049-089x(02)00006-6

*Llorente-Alonso, M., & Topa, G. (2018). Prevention of occupational strain: Can psychological empowerment and organizational commitment decrease dissatisfaction and intention to quit? Journal of Clinical Medicine, 7 (11), 450. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm7110450

Malik, S., & Courtney, K. (2010). Higher education and women’s empowerment in Pakistan. Gender and Education, 23 (1), 29–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540251003674071

Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1982). Burnout in health professions: A social psychological analysis. In G. Sanders & J. Suls (Eds.), Social psychology of health and illness. Erlbaum.

Mathew, J., & Nair, S. (2021). Psychological empowerment and job satisfaction: A meta-analytic review. Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972262921994350

Matsuo, M. (2021). Antecedents of psychological empowerment: The effects of developmental experience, learning goal orientation and authenticity. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 59 (1), 44–62. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7941.12228

Matsuo, M. (2022). Influences of developmental job experience and learning goal orientation on employee creativity: Mediating role of psychological empowerment. Human Resource Development International, 25 (1), 4–18.

Maynard, M. T., Mathieu, J. E., Gilson, L. L., O’Boyle, E. H., & Cigularov, K. P. (2013). Drivers and outcomes of team psychological empowerment: A meta-analytic review and model test. Organizational Psychology Review, 3 (2), 101–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386612456868

McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T., Jr., Lima, M. P., Simoes, A., Ostendorf, F., Angleitner, A., et al. (1999). Age differences in personality across the adult lifespan: Parallels in five cultures. Developmental Psychology, 35 , 466–477.

Menon, S.T. (1995). Employee empowerment: Definition, measurement and construct validation [Unpublished Doctoral Thesis]. Mc Gill University.

*Messersmith, J. G., Patel, P. C., Lepak, D. P., & Gould-Williams, J. S. (2012). Unlocking the black box: Exploring the link between high-performance work systems and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96 (6), 1105–1118. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024710

Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, The PRISMA Group. (2009) Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement. Plos Medicine, 6 (7), e1000097. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097

Monje Amor, A., Xanthopoulou, D., Calvo, N., & Abeal Vázquez, J. P. (2021). Structural empowerment, psychological empowerment, and work engagement: A cross-country study. European Management Journal, 39 (6), 779–789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2021.01.005

Morgeson, F. P., & Humphrey, S. E. (2006). The Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ): Developing and validating a comprehensive measure for assessing job design and the nature of work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91 , 1321–1339. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.6.1321

Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. M., & Porter, L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14 , 224–247.

Noordin, F., & Jusoff, K. (2010). Individualism-collectivism and job satisfaction between Malaysia and Australia. International Journal of Educational Management, 24 (2), 159–174. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513541011020963

Orwin, R. G., & Vevea, J. L. (2010). Evaluating coding decisions. In H. Cooper, L. V. Hedges, & J. C. Valentine (Eds.), The handbook of research synthesis and meta-analysis (2ª, pp. 177–203). Russell Sage Foundation.

Ozaralli, N. (2003). Effects of transformational leadership on empowerment and team effectiveness. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 24 (5/6), 335–345.

Park, I.-J., Doan, T., Zhud, D., & Beomcheol Kim, P. (2021). How do empowered employees engage in voice behaviors? A moderated mediation model based on work-related flow and supervisors’ emotional expression spin. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 95 , 102878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102878

Prabha, M., Murugesan, P., & Santhanam, N. (2021). A study on the impact of psychological empowerment on motivation and satisfaction among the faculty working in the technical educational institutions in India based on age and work. International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 12 (1), 70–84.

*Prati, G., & Zani, B. (2013). The relationship between psychological empowerment and organizational identification. Journal of Community Psychology, 41 , 851–866. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21578

Rappaport, J. (1984). Studies in empowerment: Introduction to the issue. Prevention in Human Services, 3 , 1–7.

Rasool, S. F., Samma, M., Wang, M., Zhao, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2019). How human resource management practices translate into sustainable organizational performance: The mediating role of product, process and knowledge innovation. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 12 , 1009–1025. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S204662

*Raub, S., & Robert, C. (2012). Empowerment, organizational commitment, and voice behavior in the hospitality industry. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 54 (2), 136–148. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965512457240

*Redman, T., Snape, E., & Ashurst, C. (2009). Location, location, location: does place of work really matter? British Journal of Management, 20 , S171–S181. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2008.00640.x

Rivera-Torres, P., Araque-Padilla, R., & Montero-Simó, M. (2013). Job stress across gender: The importance of emotional and intellectual demands and social support in women. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10 (1), 375–389. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10010375

Robert, C., Probst, T. M., Martocchio, J. J., Drasgow, F., & Lawler, J. J. (2000). Empowerment and continuous improvement in the United States, Mexico, Poland, and India: Predicting fit on the basis of the dimensions of power distance and individualism. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85 (5), 643–658. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.85.5.643

Rodriguez, R. A., Green, M. T., Sun, Y., & Baggerly-Hinojosa, B. (2017). Authentic leadership and transformational leadership: An incremental approach. Journal of Leadership Studies, 11 (1), 20–35. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21501

Sanchez-Meca, J. (2010). Cómo realizar una revisión sistemática y un metaanálisis. Aula Abierta, 2 (38), 53–64.

*Schermuly, C., Deller, J., & Büsch, V. (2014). A research note on age discrimination and the desire to retire: The mediating effect of psychological empowerment. Research on Aging, 36 , 382–393. https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027513508288

Seibert, S. E., Silver, S. R., & Randolph, W. A. (2004). Taking empowerment to the next level: A multiple-level model of empowerment, performance, and satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 47 (3), 332–349. https://doi.org/10.5465/20159585

Seibert, S., Wang, G., & Courtright, S. (2011). Antecedents and consequences of psychological and team empowerment in organizations: A meta-analytic review. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 96 , 981–1003. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022676

Spector, P. E. (1997). Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, causes and consequences . Sage publications Inc.

*Spreitzer, G. M. (1995a). An empirical test of a comprehensive model of intrapersonal empowerment in the workplace. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23 , 601–629.

Spreitzer, G. M. (1995b). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Construct definition, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38 , 1442–1465.

Spreitzer, G. M. (1996). Social structural characteristics of psychological empowerment. Academy of Management Journal, 39 , 483–504.

Spreitzer, G. M. (2008). Taking stock: A review of more than twenty years of research on empowerment at work. In J. Barling & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Handbook of organizational behavior (pp. 54–72). Sage.

Spreitzer, G. M. (1992). When organizations dare: The dynamics of individual empowerment in the workplace . [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] The University of Michigan.

Spreitzer, G., & M., De Janasz, S.C. & Quinn, R. (1999). Empowered to lead: the role of psychological empowerment in leadership. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 20 (4), 511–526.

Suhonen, J. (2019). Age, Tenure, General Self-Efficacy, and Sales Performance of Salespeople. Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies , 7956.

Sylvia Nabila, A. A., Kalimin, K. M., Dayang Haryani Diana, A. D., & Jasmine, V. A. (2021). The mediating effect of psychological empowerment on leadership styles and task performance of academic staff. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 42 (5), 763–782. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-05-2020-0197

Thomas, W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2009). Re-examining the relationship between age and voluntary turnover. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74 (3), 283–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.01.004

Thomas, D., & Rahschulte, T. (2018). The moderating effects of power distance and individualism/collectivism on empowering leadership, psychological empowerment, and self- leadership in international development organizations. International Leadership Journal, 10 (3), 3–39.

Thomas, K. W., & Velthouse, B. A. (1990). Cognitive elements of empowerment. Academy of Management Review, 15 , 666–681.

Towsen, T., Stander, M. W., & Van der Vaart, L. (2020). The Relationship between authentic leadership, psychological empowerment, role clarity, and work engagement: evidence from South Africa. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01973

Triandis, H. C. (2001). Individualism-collectivism and personality. Journal of Personality, 69 (6), 907–924.

Wallace, J. E. (2013). Gender and supportive co-worker relations in the medical profession. Gender, Work & Organization, 21 (1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12007

Walumbwa, F., & Lawler, J. (2003). Building effective organizations: Transformational leadership, collectivist orientation, work-related attitudes and withdrawal behaviours in three emerging economies. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14 , 1083–1101. https://doi.org/10.1080/0958519032000114219

Walumbwa, F. O., Lawler, J. J., & Avolio, B. J. (2007). Leadership, individual differences, and work-related attitudes: A cross-culture investigation. Applied Psychology, 56 , 212–230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2006.00241.x

*Wang, X. H., & Howell, J. M. (2012). A multilevel study of transformational leadership, identification, and follower outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly, 23 (5), 775–790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.02.001

Wang, B., Rasool, S. F., Zhao, Y., et al. (2022). Investigating the nexus between critical success factors, despotic leadership, and success of renewable energy projects. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29 , 10388–11039. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16441-6

Wayne, S. J., Liden, R. C., Kraimer, M. L., & Graf, I. K. (1999). The Role of Human Capital, Motivation and Supervisor Sponsorship in Predicting Career Success.  Journal of Organizational Behavior ,  20 (5), 577–595. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3100430 . Accessed 15 Feb 2022

Weiss, H., & Cropanzano, R. (1996). Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion of the structure, cause and consequences of affective experiences at work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 18 , 1–74.

Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters of their work. Academy of Management Review, 26 , 179–201. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2001.4378011

*Yahia, N. A., Montani, F., & Courcy, F. (2017). Le rôle des stresseurs sur le comportement d’innovation: Quand le leadership habilitant du supérieur protège le potentiel d’innovation des travailleurs. Psychologie Du Travail Et Des Organisations, 24 , 51–67.

Yukl, G., & Becker, W. (2006). Effective empowerment in organizations. Organization Management Journal, 3 (3), 210–231. https://doi.org/10.1057/omj.2006.20

Zhou, H., & Chen, J. (2021). How does psychological empowerment prevent emotional exhaustion? Psychological safety and organizational embeddedness as mediators. Frontiers in Psychology, 12 , 546687. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.546687

Zimmerman, M. A. (1995). Psychological empowerment: Issues and illustrations. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23 (5), 581–599.

Zimmerman, M. A. (2000). Empowerment Theory. In J. Rappaport & E. Seidman (Eds.), Handbook of community psychology (pp. 43–63). Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Download references

Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.

Author information

Marta Llorente-Alonso

Present address: Faculty of Psychology, Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, National Distance Education University (UNED), C/ Juan del Rosal, 10, 28040, Madrid, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

Complejo Hospitalario de Soria, Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León (Sacyl), Pº Santa Bárbara s/n, 42005, Soria, Spain

Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Valladolid, 42004, Soria, Spain

Faculty of Psychology, Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, National Distance Education University (UNED), C/ Juan del Rosal, 10, 28040, Madrid, Spain

Cristina García-Ael & Gabriela Topa

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marta Llorente-Alonso .

Ethics declarations

Informed consent.

Since this meta-analysis used secondary data, the informed consent of participants was not required.

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that no conflicts of interest exist in relation to this meta-analysis.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Llorente-Alonso, M., García-Ael, C. & Topa, G. A meta-analysis of psychological empowerment: Antecedents, organizational outcomes, and moderating variables. Curr Psychol 43 , 1759–1784 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04369-8

Download citation

Accepted : 05 February 2023

Published : 28 February 2023

Issue Date : January 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04369-8

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Correlation
• Effect size
• Heterogeneity, Meta-analysis
• Psychological Empowerment
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

• Search Menu
• Advance articles
• Books for Review
• Author Guidelines
• Submission Site
• Open Access
• About Industrial Law Journal
• Editorial Board
• Advertising and Corporate Services
• Journals Career Network
• Self-Archiving Policy
• Dispatch Dates
• Journals on Oxford Academic
• Books on Oxford Academic

Article Contents

1. introduction, 2. the psychology of stress, 3. the law relating to stress, 4. broader structural questions, 5. conclusion.

• < Previous

Stress at Work: Individuals or Structures?

• Article contents
• Figures & tables
• Supplementary Data

A C L Davies, Stress at Work: Individuals or Structures?, Industrial Law Journal , Volume 51, Issue 2, June 2022, Pages 403–434, https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwab006

• Permissions Icon Permissions

Stress is a significant practical problem in modern workplaces. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), more than half of all working days lost to ill health each year are attributed to stress, depression or anxiety. This article offers an overview of the occupational psychology literature on workplace stress, focussing on the job demands–resources or JD-R model, developed by Demerouti et al., and highlighting two important points: first, that stress at work is not just about excessive job ‘demands’ but also about inadequate ‘resources’ to cope with those demands; second, that stress-related ill-health is not just a matter of vulnerability on the part of the individual worker, but is also about the way in which the workplace is organised. The article then draws on these insights to offer a critique of the way in which health and safety law and tort law approach workplace stress, arguing that both bodies of law are overly focussed on treating stress as a matter of individual vulnerability. It concludes by drawing out some broader implications of the occupational psychology literature for areas of employment law less obviously related to workplace stress, and for casual or platform working.

Stress is a significant practical problem in modern workplaces. Although stress is not itself a diagnosable medical condition, it can cause both mental and physical health problems. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), more than half of all working days lost to ill health each year are attributed to stress, depression or anxiety. 1 Stress is gendered, with women between the ages of 25 and 44 being significantly more likely to report work-related stress than men of the same age. 2 And it has a particularly high impact on the public sector, being more prevalent in public administration, health care and education than in other parts of the economy. 3 Polls of workers suggest that the most common causes of stress are high workloads, the way people are managed, and inability to achieve a satisfactory work–life balance. 4 It seems likely that the last of these helps to explain the greater prevalence of stress among women, given the double burden of juggling work with significant caring responsibilities many women in the relevant age group will experience. 5

It is too early to say what the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic will be on workplace stress, but it seems likely that it will significantly exacerbate the problem in many cases. Sadly, it is already apparent that there will be large-scale redundancies as a result of the pandemic, something which is generally regarded by psychologists as a highly stressful life event in itself. 6 For those who have been fortunate enough to stay in work, greater flexibility to work from home has been a benefit for some, but new sources of workplace stress have also presented themselves, including the risk of catching the virus, fears about future redundancies, and the added challenges of juggling work with home-schooling and childcare, again with emerging evidence of gendered impact. Further work will be needed to investigate these effects.

Despite the day-to-day reality of stress at work both pre- and post-pandemic, the legal literature on the subject is relatively limited, albeit with some notable exceptions. 7 Of course, there has been some interest in the cases dealing with what the courts term ‘psychiatric injury’ at work, a type of injury which often stems from employees being placed in stressful situations. 8 And more recently, there has been some important scholarship on mental health at work, which may include mental ill-health caused by stress at work, from the perspective of disability discrimination law in particular. 9 Nevertheless, a broader analysis of the law’s approach to workplace stress is long overdue.

In the first part of this article, I will offer an overview of the psychology literature on workplace stress, in order to develop a clearer understanding of the psychological processes involved when a worker develops a health problem because of stress at work. This is an important exercise because, too often, it is tempting to rely on personal experience and anecdote as our starting-point for thinking about stress. Two key points emerge from this literature. First, although we tend to think about stress-related ill-health as stemming from ‘stressors’, such as long working hours or high workloads, psychologists focus on a combination of factors, some of which place demands on the worker and some of which help the worker to cope with those demands. Problems arise when demands and resources are not properly balanced. Second, the worker’s own ‘vulnerability’ or ‘resilience’ is only one factor among many: from a psychological perspective, workplace stress is also viewed as a matter of workplace structure and organisation.

In the second part of the article, I consider two areas of law typically thought of as being concerned with workplace stress: health and safety law and tort law. The HSE’s approach to workplace stress is well-informed by the psychology literature and in many respects asks the right set of questions. 10 However, it is not clear that asking a manager to complete a ‘stress risk assessment’, for example, will in practice generate the kinds of profound structural change that might be needed to combat stress. Tort law’s approach to workplace stress tends to focus rather too heavily on the individual worker, particularly through the foreseeability test. 11 The employer is only liable where it could have foreseen that the worker would develop a health problem, and this in turn usually depends on the worker having taken time off work on a previous occasion because of stress-related ill-health. This treats stress as a matter of individual vulnerability and largely ignores the role of broader structural factors such as how the workplace is managed.

In the third part of the article, I develop the idea of thinking about workplace stress as structural matter in two related directions, to identify questions for future research. One is to examine the role of areas of law not obviously related to stress in providing working people with a ‘resource’ to combat stress. This offers another way of thinking about the justifications for employment law. The other is to examine the situation of casual or platform workers. These workers have tended to be overlooked in the psychology literature, which usually focuses on employees in ‘traditional’ jobs and workplaces, and their legal entitlements under both health and safety law and tort law are somewhat uncertain. But their working arrangements lack many of the structures associated with tackling stress, offering another reason to be concerned about the rise and rise of these forms of working in the modern economy.

In this section, I offer a review of some of the psychology literature on occupational stress and some of the empirical evidence about its prevalence in UK workplaces. My aim is to ground the discussion of the law in a sound understanding of the science.

An important caveat at the outset is that this literature deals principally with stress generated within the workplace. Many workers experience stress at work because of non-work factors, such as family problems, which in turn make it more difficult for them to cope at work. 12 Of course, the workplace may be more or less accommodating of these issues—through policies around working time or emergency leave, for example—and it may be difficult to untangle the precise combination of causes of an individual’s difficulties. 13 But issues surrounding non-work stress will not be my main focus.

A. Definition

The dictionary definition of stress is a state of mental or emotional strain brought on by external pressures. 14 Psychologists point out that stress is not inherently negative: for example, feeling a bit nervous before a big event, such as a sporting or dramatic performance, may aid alertness and focus because the stress triggers the production of adrenaline as part of the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response. 15 This type of positive stress is sometimes referred to as ‘eustress’. 16

But the type of stress (or ‘distress’ 17 ) with which I am concerned is the negative type: where the external pressures overtop the individual’s capacity to cope. 18 This may be either acute—in response to a specific, devastating event—or chronic—involving sustained pressure over the longer term. Within psychology, there are various ‘scales’ of acute ‘stressors’ which assign values to different types of event (bereavement, divorce or moving house, for example) in order to calculate the extent to which a person is at risk of an adverse reaction to the particular combination of stressors they face at any given time. 19 Not surprisingly, losing one’s job is high on these scales, though problems within the workplace also feature. However, as we shall see, many of the cases on stress at work have been concerned less with particular catastrophic events and more with stress in its chronic form, for example, where the stressor is an unmanageable workload persisting over many months or years.

Importantly, being stressed is not, strictly speaking, itself a diagnosable psychological condition, but it can lead to the development of psychological conditions such as anxiety or depression. 20 Stress is also widely believed to be a factor in physical ill-health, ranging from increased susceptibility to coughs and colds, to the development of heart disease. 21 This is thought to be because the body’s physiological responses to stress, such as raised blood pressure and heightened immune responses, can become harmful if they cannot be regulated and brought back to normal after a short period of time.

B. Models of Occupational Stress

Occupational psychologists have developed a number of different models to help explain workplace stress. The demand-control model (DCM) associated with Karasek predicts that workers will experience stress where they have high demands placed upon them, particularly a heavy workload with deadlines, coupled with a lack of control over how they organise their working day. 22 The effort-reward imbalance (ER-I) model predicts that workers will experience stress where the effort they put in at work is not acknowledged through appropriate rewards, which might include pay or promotion prospects. 23 A difficulty with both these models is that while there is empirical evidence to support their claims, they are overly simple, focussing on one or two dimensions of what tends to be a highly complex problem in practice. 24 Probably a more popular model in the literature today is the job demands—resources or JD-R model, developed by Demerouti et al. 25 This takes account of a much wider variety of factors which may generate or help to guard against stress, and offers a more subtle account of the psychological processes at work. I have chosen to focus on this model largely because I find its nuanced explanation more persuasive, but also because space precludes a full overview of all the available approaches.

Under the JD-R model, job ‘demands’ include, most obviously, workload, but can also refer to other factors like unpleasant working environments or hostility from customers. 26 Excessive job demands can cause negative consequences for the worker such as exhaustion or ‘burnout’. Job ‘resources’ refers to a variety of factors that motivate or support workers in doing their jobs, including pay, job security, autonomy, voice and supportive colleagues or managers. 27 Job resources generate positive outcomes, typically labelled ‘work engagement’. The idea is that the resources available to the individual will help them to feel motivated or ‘engaged’ in their job. As Bakker and Demerouti explain, ‘[J]ob demands and resources are the triggers of two fairly independent processes, namely a health impairment process and a motivational process’. 28 However, the two processes are not entirely unconnected, because job resources—as well as generating motivation in themselves—can also serve as a ‘buffer’ against the negative consequences of job demands, such as burnout. 29 It seems likely that the efficacy of any particular resource in addressing job demands will depend on the nature of those demands. For example, if a worker has to confront highly emotional situations every day, supportive colleagues and managers are likely to be more relevant in addressing this particular job demand than a pay rise, for example, whereas overtime pay might provide some encouragement in the event of a short-term surge in demand. 30

Having outlined the JD-R model, it may be helpful to say a bit more about job demands and resources in themselves. It is important to note at the outset that demands and resources are not watertight analytical categories: something that is identified as a demand in one workplace may be experienced as a resource in another, or perceived differently by different groups of workers. 31 I offer some examples of this below.

Demands are the easiest to explain, and tend to be used to cover four main types of demand: workload, work/life balance, physical environment and emotional engagement. 32 Demands are not inherently a bad thing—after all, a key objective of the employment relationship is the exchange of work for pay, and from that perspective the ‘demands’ are what the employer is seeking to get out of the relationship. Some of the literature distinguishes ‘demands’ or ‘threats’ (negative) and ‘challenges’ (positive) in order to clarify this point. 33 Problems only arise when the demands are excessive, or insufficiently buffered by resources, or both. It is also worth noting that the nature of the demands experienced by workers is likely to vary from job to job, and one of the strengths of the JD-R model, according to its proponents, is its ability to be used in a variety of different work settings. 34 For example, the relevance of emotional engagement is likely to be higher in, for example, teaching or nursing, than it is in manufacturing, where workload and features of the physical environment (heat, noise, poor air quality and so on) may be more of an issue.

Resources are more complex. A useful framework is the individual, group, leadership, organisational or ‘IGLO’ classification set out by Nielsen et al. 35 This identifies the four main levels at which resources might be present. At the level of the individual worker, the worker’s personal resilience is important. This includes resources such as ‘self-efficacy’ (used in psychology to denote a person’s belief in their own capacity to succeed in a particular situation), self-esteem and optimism. 36 Obviously, the key point here is that workers’ personal traits affect their response to job demands, which explains why it is common to find that not all workers in a group faced with the same, overwhelming job demands will develop burnout over time. This is not in any sense to ‘blame’ workers for their situations, but rather to acknowledge the variety of human responses, in the same way that not everyone will develop a physical injury in response to heavy lifting or sitting at a desk all day. In recent years, another ‘individual’ factor, which has attracted attention in the literature, is ‘job crafting’. 37 This is the ability of the individual to make some adaptations to their day-to-day work to suit their interests and preferences. For example, a worker who enjoys teaching others might informally take on the role of training new members of staff, even though this role is not formally assigned by the employer. Allowing workers some scope to do this can have positive effects on their well-being.

Turning now to the ‘group’ level, the focus here is on the positive impact that a worker’s relationship with their team can have on their well-being. 38 A key factor here is the social support that team members are able to provide for each other. At the ‘leadership’ level, attention has focussed on the nature of the relationship between a manager and their team, and on the effect of different management styles. 39 For example, managers might motivate their teams in different ways—by promising rewards, such as pay rises, or through softer measures such as providing encouragement—and these can be studied for their impact on well-being.

At the organisational level, a particularly popular focus of the literature over many years has been ‘autonomy’. 40 This is the idea that giving workers some scope to determine parameters such as when and in what order they complete their work tasks increases their satisfaction and motivation at work. There are numerous studies establishing a relationship between autonomy and well-being, and of course for many people, though by no means everyone, repetitive, monotonous work is less likely to be satisfying. Some more recent studies have, however, begun to question this relationship given the potential for highly autonomous workers to experience constant and conflicting demands, for example, when they are expected to monitor work emails at all times, but this phenomenon does not necessarily undermine the general point about the value of autonomy. 41 Other job characteristics of relevance to worker well-being include: job tasks requiring a variety of different skills, being able to complete a whole task rather than just a component part, and the task itself having value or meaning, such as a positive impact on other people. 42 A body of literature further suggests that various human resources (HR) practices can have a positive impact. 43 These include providing clear feedback on performance, rewarding good performance, and offering training. Job security has also been a popular topic for analysis and the evidence suggests a positive relationship between job security and worker well-being. 44

There have been numerous empirical studies designed to test the JD-R model’s predictions. 45 Most of these use surveys of workers in particular sectors to identify the demands placed upon them and the resources available to them, and the causal link between the demands and resources on the one hand, and the outcomes for workers. 46 A smaller group of studies uses observation to verify workers’ explanations of their experiences. 47 There has also been a more recent push towards longitudinal studies, in which the same workers are surveyed on several occasions over time, acknowledging the fact that the development of—or prevention of—workplace stress is a long-term phenomenon. 48 The various processes envisaged by the JD-R model, such as the buffering role of resources, are well-supported by the empirical evidence, though of course there are ongoing attempts to refine the model. A particular problem, as pointed out by Schaufeli and Taris, is that the model’s breadth is both a strength and a weakness: it can be adapted to a variety of different contexts, but studies ‘testing the model’ in practice usually test different subsets of factors and may therefore be examining quite different things. 49

C. Relevance for Law

This review of the occupational psychology literature offers a number of useful insights into workplace stress. Two messages are particularly important. First, from this perspective, workplace stress is not solely an issue about the individual worker’s susceptibility to particular stressors. Although an individual’s resources are relevant, the way in which the workplace is organised and managed is also an important consideration. 50 Studies cannot easily establish the relative significance of these different factors, but they do demonstrate the basic point that stress is as much a structural as a personal phenomenon. Second, although excessive workplace demands, particularly high workloads, are a key factor leading workers to experience stress, the presence or absence of job resources is also highly relevant. A heavy workload is more likely to result in negative outcomes for the worker if it is coupled with, for example, low pay, tedious work and unsupportive management.

Before applying these insights to the legal materials, it is important to note the risks of taking ideas from one discipline and applying them in another. One potential problem is that the purposes of the two disciplines may be radically different. Occupational psychologists seek to understand and model workplace stress primarily in order to design interventions to tackle it. 51 These might be structural interventions aimed at employing entities, or therapeutic interventions aimed at workers. From this perspective, understanding the causes of stress and its negative consequences, such as exhaustion and burnout, is essential in understanding how to remove, reduce or address these causes. This understanding can be quite wide-ranging in nature. Presumably, employers can then decide—on a cost-benefit basis, for example—which interventions they consider to be worth pursuing. In this regard, there may be a bias towards organisational rather than individual interventions, which can be implemented by occupational health and HR professionals across an organisation at relatively low cost. As we shall see, although the law does have some preventative aims, its purposes are more complex.

Another factor to bear in mind is that what we might term the ‘preoccupations’ of the two disciplines may be quite different. The psychology literature tends to focus on larger, more traditional workplaces, again, perhaps because of the audience of occupational health and HR professionals who are more likely to be working in big firms. There is relatively little analysis of the JD-R model in contexts which seem very immediately and obviously problematic to lawyers, such as employment via internet platforms, or workplaces with a high proportion of casual workers. 52 One might reasonably hypothesise that workers in these workplaces may be more prone to ‘distress’ because of factors such as monotonous or repetitive work, a lack of control over the working day when working ‘on demand’, and difficulties accessing support from managers and colleagues when working sporadically or remotely. But, with the exception of a few studies of temporary workers, it appears that relatively little research has been carried out in these contexts. I return to the significance of this in section 3, below.

In this section, I will examine the law’s treatment of stress. This presents an immediate problem in view of the literature just considered. How can we sensibly define the law relating to stress? On one view, we could include almost any area of law that is intended to promote what we might term, following the ILO, ‘decent work’. 53 For example, legislation designed to promote collective bargaining or consultation should improve workers’ sense that they have a voice at work, which is one of the ‘job resources’ of value in buffering against stress. But this approach would not make for a practical article. The alternative is to focus on those areas of law which deal explicitly with preventing or remedying stress, the principal examples being health and safety law and tort law. 54 This will be my strategy here, though I will return to the broader point about decent work in section 3.

Before getting into the detail, it is worth pausing to consider what these various bodies of law are designed to do, since there is some diversity even within the narrower focus. Health and safety law has an explicitly preventative focus. It places duties upon employers and others to assess the risks to health within their business and to take reasonable steps to prevent workers and others from suffering illness or injury as a result. HSE is responsible for enforcing the law, which can include investigating incidents and prosecuting employers in the most serious cases. In recent years, HSE has had a particular focus on workplace stress, no doubt because of the evidence indicating that a high proportion of working days lost to ill-health are nowadays lost to stress-related problems. Tort law allows employees to seek compensation from their employer where they have suffered physical or ‘psychiatric’ injury at work due to the employer’s negligence. 55 This may be relevant where the employee has suffered mental or physical ill-health as a result of workplace stress. Although the primary focus of this body of law is providing the injured employee with a remedy for losses suffered, it is often suggested that it might also indirectly perform a deterrent function. Employers who are aware of the prospect of litigation in this area might take steps to protect themselves against liability, some of which may benefit employees.

The closest alignment between the occupational psychology literature and the law is therefore in the field of health and safety, where there is a clear focus on identifying potential causes of stress and taking steps to address them. The connection in relation to tort law is less obvious, but still present. Deciding whether the employer has been negligent involves deciding whether the employer has breached its duty of care towards the employee, which in turn requires a judgment about the preventative steps the employer should have taken. However, it will be argued here that both bodies of law take a strongly individualistic approach to workplace stress, treating it primarily as a matter of individual vulnerability rather than as a reflection of the way the workplace is organised and managed.

A. Health and Safety

In this section, I outline the law relating to health and safety as it applies to workplace stress, and the guidance on the topic developed by HSE. I argue that the guidance, while well-designed in general terms, is more likely in practice to result in minor changes to an individual’s job than in broader structural change in the workplace. There are also concerns about the enforcement of health and safety law and its proper application to the full variety of working relationships, not just to employees.

Under section 2(1) Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, ‘It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees’. 56 A failure to discharge this duty is a criminal offence under section 33. There are further duties to put in place a policy on health and safety 57 and to engage in consultation with trade union or other representatives. 58 Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, r. 3, the employer is placed under a duty to conduct a risk assessment. 59 This is central to ensuring that the employer gives consideration to the specific risks arising in the workplace and takes steps to prevent them. The ‘principles of prevention’ are derived from EU law 60 and are given effect by r. 4 and Schedule 1, and include the following matters of potential relevance to workplace stress:

(d) adapting the work to the individual, especially as regards the design of workplaces, the choice of work equipment and the choice of working and production methods, with a view, in particular, to alleviating monotonous work and work at a predetermined work-rate and to reducing their effect on health… (g) developing a coherent overall prevention policy which covers technology, organisation of work, working conditions, social relationships and the influence of factors relating to the working environment; (h) giving collective protective measures priority over individual protective measures…

While the employer’s duty is, of course, to comply with the law, HSE plays an important role in providing detailed guidance on how the law should be applied and interpreted in particular contexts, and in setting priorities for enforcement. Thus, HSE’s approach to workplace stress is likely to be highly influential when employers are seeking to understand what the law requires of them in practice.

HSE first issued guidance on protecting employees’ physical and mental health from the effects of workplace stress in 1995, 61 and now has a sophisticated set of ‘management standards’ to tackle stress at work. 62 The management standards are set out on HSE’s website as follows:

Demands—this includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment Control—how much say the person has in the way they do their work Support—this includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues Relationships—this includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour Role—whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles Change—how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation 63

It is immediately apparent that these standards have been developed in the light of the psychology literature. 64 Demands are expressly included, and also feature within some of the other headings, for example, in the focus on role conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour (which might include violence or emotional demands from customers, for example). And resources are also present, covering all levels of the organisation, from the worker’s immediate colleagues to senior management.

HSE has published a ‘workbook’ to support employers to fulfil their statutory duty to conduct a risk assessment and take preventative steps in relation to stress. 65 This advises various common-sense steps, such as setting up a working group, surveying the workforce, and drafting and publicising a policy. It focuses in particular on organisation-wide activities, though it also highlights the importance of conducting individual risk assessments where it is apparent that a particular employee is at risk. This is supplemented an Indicator Tool, which can be used to survey the workforce, 66 and by further guidance documents such as an ‘example stress policy’, 67 a leaflet entitled ‘are you doing enough’, 68 and the Talking Toolkit to support conversations about stress. 69 My concern is that—despite HSE’s best efforts to ensure a structural focus—the end result is more likely to be a series of small-scale changes to individuals’ jobs.

One example is the treatment of ‘control’. As we have seen, having greater autonomy over the organisation of the working day and the work itself may act as a buffer against stress. The Workbook identifies the following as ‘what should be happening’:

Where possible, employees have control over their pace of work, eg have a say over when breaks can be taken. Employees are encouraged to use their skills and initiative to do their work. Where possible, employees are encouraged to develop new skills to help them undertake new and challenging pieces of work. The organisation encourages employees to develop their skills. Employees are consulted over their work patterns. 70

It offers further practical suggestions for achieving these objectives and some ‘dos and don’ts’ for employers. 71 However, the Workbook shies away from proposing any profound structural changes. For example, it identifies ‘project meetings, one-to-ones, performance reviews’ as suitable forums in which to give staff the chance to have a say in how their work is organised. 72 These are, of course, good ideas, but they are likely to involve either individual employees or small groups. There is no suggestion of, for example, holding a workplace-wide review of working time and flexible working policies (in the light of legal requirements and best practice) to identify whether more people could work flexibly or from home across the organisation as a whole. In turn, this puts pressure on individual employees to make a case for change for themselves.

Similarly, under the heading of ‘demands’, the Workbook identifies ‘what should be happening’ as follows:

The organisation provides employees with adequate and achievable demands in relation to the agreed hours of work. People’s skills and abilities are matched to the job demands. Jobs are designed to be within the capabilities of employees. Employees’ concerns about their work environment are addressed. 73

Again, these are important objectives, but the suggested ways of achieving them focus largely on holding meetings with individuals to discuss work plans, workload and how to prioritise. 74 There is no discussion of, for example, whether the employer has enough staff to meet demands, which is a particular issue in the public sector after years of austerity, or how demands themselves might be managed. The risk is that the focus shifts too readily to the individual’s ability to cope with their workload, whatever that workload might be.

While it is always to be hoped that good employers will make an effort to comply with health and safety standards regardless of how they are enforced, the prospect of investigation and enforcement has a role to play in raising the profile of such standards and encouraging less enthusiastic employers to take them seriously. But HSE has limited resources and a wide range of responsibilities, and although it has occasionally used its formal enforcement powers in relation to stress, 75 I have been unable to find any recent examples. 76 In 2019, HSE updated its guidance on investigations to state:

HSE will consider investigating concerns about work-related stress where: There is evidence that a number of staff are currently experiencing work-related stress or stress-related ill health, (i.e. that it is not an individual case), but… HSE would expect concerns about work-related stress to have been raised already with the employer, and for the employer to have been given sufficient time to respond accordingly. 77

It is worth noting that stress-related illnesses are not reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), so the main route for prompting investigation by HSE would be a complaint, presumably from the affected workers or their trade union. 78 It is unclear whether any investigations have been undertaken as a result of the change in guidance.

Moreover, formal enforcement powers are something of a blunt instrument and are unlikely to be used to deal with less serious cases. This can be illustrated by reference to the improvement notice issued to the West Dorset General Hospitals NHS Trust in 2003. According to information released by HSE, the Trust had no risk assessment in place and no stress management policy, despite evidence of stress-related absences and high workloads, and had signalled that it had no intention of making stress a priority for another twelve months. 79 Under the well-known Ayres and Braithwaite ‘enforcement pyramid’, this was a classic case for formal enforcement because there did not appear to be any evidence of willingness to comply on the part of the employer. 80 While it is, of course, sensible to reserve limited enforcement resources for the most serious cases, this means that employers who make some effort to comply are unlikely to be troubled by the enforcement process, and there is little regulatory pressure on them to improve.

An alternative option is to allow working people themselves to enforce health and safety law through the civil courts. Since 2013, this possibility has been limited by section 69 Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, which amended section 47 Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 so that an action for breach of statutory duty is only available where the relevant health and safety regulations expressly so provide. However, claims may still be brought in negligence—discussed further below—and the courts often draw on health and safety law to determine whether the employer is in breach at common law. This is particularly true in relation to the employer’s approach to risk assessments. 81

Another limitation of health and safety law is uncertainty about its personal scope, and the extent to which employers owe duties to working people who are not employees. This issue was addressed recently in the IWGB case. 82 It was held that the EU Framework Directive, Article 3, 83 required Member States to implement health and safety protections for ‘workers’ as defined in EU free movement and equal pay law. 84 This meant that the UK’s use of the term ‘employee’ in the 1974 Act and other implementing measures was insufficient. 85 The judge thus held that the government had failed properly to implement Articles 8(4) and (5) of the Framework Directive (the right to leave the workplace in a situation of imminent danger) 86 and Article 3 of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Directive (the employer’s duty to provide PPE) 87 with respect to workers, because these are rights currently available to employees only. However, the picture was more complex in relation to the general health and safety duties intended to be imposed on employers under Articles 5(1) and 6(1) of the Framework Directive. While these are implemented for employees only under section 2 of the 1974 Act, the judge was satisfied that these provisions of the Directive had nevertheless been properly implemented because section 3 made equivalent provision for ‘persons not in [the employer’s] employment who may be affected’ by the conduct of the employer’s business, which included workers (and others).

From the perspective of stress, this ruling puts beyond doubt the point that the employer should consider the needs of workers as well as employees when developing a policy on stress, conducting risk assessments and taking preventative steps. Although HSE has long taken the view that health and safety law is broad in scope, 88 there is now an urgent need for it to revisit and update its workplace stress guidance to ensure that it is relevant to different types of working arrangement. The current guidance tends to assume that it is being applied in a workplace with very traditional employer/employee relationships. For example, there is a strong emphasis on training, both to provide opportunities for staff to develop their careers, and to help them deal with difficult situations, 89 but it seems unlikely in practice that much training would be on offer for workers with short-term casual contracts. More profoundly, there is a major structural question about the extent to which precarious working arrangements of various kinds are inherently likely to put working people at a greater risk of stress-related ill-health, regardless of their specific design. I return to this point below.

To sum up, the HSE’s management standards have clearly been drafted based on psychological research, but the more detailed guidance provided by HSE is unambitious. There is a tendency for bold statements about demands, control and other factors to collapse into minor changes to a particular individual’s working experience. There are also questions about the extent to which the management standards are relevant to working people who are not in traditional ‘employee’ relationships and whether they are effectively enforced. At least three areas can be identified for reform. First, HSE’s guidance should be redrafted to emphasise the importance of considering structural changes within the employing entity to reduce the risk of stress before making adjustments to individuals’ jobs. Second, greater priority should be given to workplace stress in HSE’s enforcement activity. Although HSE clearly cannot tackle every case of stress, occasional use of its formal powers in serious cases would raise the profile of stress as a significant workplace issue. Third, new guidance is urgently needed to help employers consider suitable preventative steps to tackle the stress experienced by people in non-standard working relationships.

B. Tort Liability

Another body of law with an obvious role to play in dealing with stress at work is the law of tort. At common law, the employer is under a duty to take reasonable care to protect its employees 90 from injury at work. 91 This duty arises both in the law of negligence, because of the nature of the employment relationship, 92 and as an implied term of the contract of employment. 93 As we have seen, stress itself is not a diagnosable condition, so there is no liability in respect of stress per se, but claims may be brought where the employee has developed a physical or mental illness as a result of workplace stress. 94 Most of the reported cases relating to stress in fact concern mental illness, which is referred to by the courts as ‘psychiatric injury’. 95 I will argue in this section that the law’s approach is highly individualistic, focussing largely on the particular employee’s response to the circumstances and how their ‘vulnerabilities’ might have been managed, rather than on the broader structural factors at play. This perpetuates an unhelpful narrative about workplace stress, which is not consistent with the psychology literature.

One manifestation of this is in the courts’ approach to ‘foreseeability’. 96 Foreseeability is regarded as relevant to establishing whether the employer has breached its duty of care (alongside the seriousness of the injury to the employee and the cost of taking precautions to prevent it) and, to some extent, to establishing causation (whether the employee’s illness was a result of their work situation). The key question is what the employer could or should have predicted based on its knowledge of the situation. The courts begin from the premise that no job is inherently likely to cause ‘psychiatric injury’:

The notion that some occupations are in themselves dangerous to mental health is not borne out by the literature to which we have already referred: it is not the job but the interaction between the individual and the job which causes the harm. 97

This contrasts with the position in relation to physical injury, where it is recognised that some jobs—in the police or the fire service, for example—do carry greater risk, though workers in those services are taken to have accepted the risks inherent in their job not attributable to their employer’s negligence. 98 It is, of course, true that not every employee will develop ‘psychiatric injury’ as a result of a stressful work situation: in most of the cases before the courts, it is apparent that other employees in the same workplace facing the same conditions have not become ill as a result. But this is the starting-point for the courts’ focus on the individual.

Very occasionally, it is possible to establish liability on the basis of a ‘single stressful event’: where the workplace problem that caused the injury was so extreme that it was foreseeable that any employee of ‘ordinary robustness’ might suffer ‘psychiatric injury’ as a result. This was argued in the Yapp case, in which a diplomat was suddenly withdrawn from his posting without being given an opportunity to challenge allegations which subsequently turned out to be unfounded. 99 It was held that while the argument was available in principle, it was not made out in Yapp itself, because the employer’s action was not so extreme as to make the ‘psychiatric injury’ foreseeable in the absence of any known prior vulnerability on the part of the claimant. 100 However, a version of the argument succeeded in Melville , in which the claimant was a prison officer who was occasionally called upon to deal with suicides at the prison where he worked. 101 The Home Office had a procedure for supporting staff who had been in this situation but it had not been implemented properly in relation to the claimant. 102 The Court of Appeal upheld the judge’s finding that the Home Office was liable. The Home Office had in fact foreseen that prison officers might suffer psychiatric injury when dealing with suicides and it did not matter that this was in relation to all staff rather than the particular claimant. It was in the nature of a traumatic event that the claimant would show no signs of vulnerability before the event occurred.

However, where the claim relates to more general stressors, such as workload, it is necessary to show that the employer was aware of what the courts refer to as a particular vulnerability on the part of the claimant in order to establish that the ‘psychiatric injury’ was foreseeable. In most successful claims, this is done by demonstrating that the employer had been put on notice by a previous episode of stress-related ill-health. For example, in Walker , the first case in which an employer was found liable for ‘psychiatric injury’, it was crucial that the employee, a social work manager, had suffered two breakdowns as a result of his heavy workload. 103 After the first breakdown, he returned to work and was provided with additional support, but this was soon withdrawn, with the result that he suffered further ill-health and was ultimately unable to work again. It was held that the employer was not liable for the first breakdown, on the basis that it could not have been foreseen, but was liable for the second. Some of the more recent cases have relaxed this approach to some extent, finding that injury was foreseeable where the employee had clearly and repeatedly notified the employer of concerns about stress and workload, without suffering a breakdown or taking time off. 104 Nevertheless, the requirement remains that the employer should be aware of vulnerability on the part of the particular employee.

Crucially, although the employee’s work situation is relevant in establishing foreseeability, it does not appear that it could ever be sufficient. In the well-known Hatton guidelines, a number of factors relating to the work situation feature in guideline 5, as follows:

Is the workload much more than is normal for the particular job? Is the work particularly intellectually or emotionally demanding for this employee? Are demands being made of this employee unreasonable when compared with the demands made of others in the same or comparable jobs? Or are there signs that others doing this job are suffering harmful levels of stress? Is there an abnormal level of sickness or absenteeism in the same job or the same department? 105

However, the remainder of the guideline summarises factors demonstrating the vulnerability of the individual employee and it is clear from the judgment as a whole that these are regarded as much more important in establishing foreseeability. Indeed, a clear contrast between stress cases (apart from those involving a ‘single stressful event’) and other types of case is that foreseeability must be established in relation to the particular claimant rather than just a class of persons to which the claimant belongs.

The (unintentional) effect of the courts’ approach is to construct a narrative that employees who develop ‘psychiatric injury’ as a result of stress do so because they are particularly vulnerable, and to downplay the role of workplace factors such as workloads, long working hours or lack of sympathy from management. The deterrent effect of tort law is, of course, controversial and contested. But to the extent that it does exist, this approach largely absolves employers of the need to think about how the design of a particular job may be causing or contributing to the stress experienced by the employee.

Another element of establishing breach of the employer’s duty of care is a consideration of what precautions the employer could have taken, but failed to take, in order to protect the employee. As we saw above in the discussions of both Walker and Melville , employers are particularly likely to be held liable in cases where it is apparent that they decided what precautions were required but then failed to implement their own decision. 106 In less clear-cut cases, the judge must identify with some precision the precautions the employer should have taken, considering its size and administrative resources (with clear echoes of unfair dismissal law) and their likelihood of success. 107 The Court of Appeal in Hatton provided a non-exhaustive list of steps, including ‘giving the employee a sabbatical; transferring him to other work; redistributing the work; giving him some extra help for a while; arranging treatment or counselling; providing buddying or mentoring schemes to encourage confidence; and much more’. 108 Again, the focus is largely on steps to remedy the perceived vulnerability of the individual, rather than on reshaping the work or the workplace.

Perhaps the high-point of this emphasis on the individual is the idea that the employer’s provision of an occupational health service is likely to be a sufficient precaution in most cases. Again, this is clear from Hatton :

an employer who tries to balance all these interests by offering confidential help to employees who fear that they may be suffering harmful levels of stress is unlikely to be found in breach of duty: except where he has been placing totally unreasonable demands upon an individual in circumstances where the risk of harm was clear. 109

This is problematic from the perspective of the literature considered in the first part of this article. While there is nothing wrong with providing an occupational health service, it again tends to ‘individualise’ the problem of workplace stress. It is treated as a matter to be addressed by providing the employee with advice, rather than by restructuring the work or the workplace to make the employee’s situation less stressful. In some workplaces, such as that in Melville , the nature of the work cannot be changed, and the provision of support becomes essential. But in other cases, restructuring should be the employer’s first port of call. 110 The Court of Appeal in Hatton added the important qualification about intolerable pressures, indicating that occupational health provision is not the answer in every situation. This was borne out in Daw , where the court held that the only effective precaution the employer could have taken was to reduce the claimant’s workload. 111 The provision of an occupational health service and the claimant’s decision not to use it were held to be irrelevant in that case. Nevertheless, there is a worry that cases like Daw are the exception rather than the rule, so that the message about stress and individual vulnerability is reinforced.

To sum up, tort law constructs a narrative that ‘psychiatric injury’ caused by stress at work is largely a matter of vulnerability on the part of the claimant employee. This is illustrated by the way in which foreseeability is interpreted and applied, and by the emphasis on counselling as a sufficient precaution in most cases. This inhibits tort law’s capacity to fulfil its secondary goal of prompting employers to take preventative measures, such as redesigning jobs and workplaces to make them less stressful for their employees. To align the law more closely with what we know about stress from the JD-R model, the courts ought to place more emphasis on the predictive value of the work situation when considering foreseeability for the purposes of determining whether the employer is in breach (and, ideally, accept that foreseeability of stress-related psychiatric injury need only be established in relation to a class of persons to which the claimant belongs), and acknowledge that the employer’s obligation to take preventative steps should include reorganising the work, where possible, as well as providing support to individuals.

So far, the discussion has focussed on how a psychologically-informed understanding of stress might help us to critique and develop those bodies of law dealing explicitly with workplace stress, such as health and safety law or tort law. But the insight that the way in which workplaces and working lives are structured and organised is a key factor in either generating or combating stress at work has much broader implications too. These will be the focus of this section. I will develop two points. First, to tackle workplace stress in a comprehensive manner, many other bodies of law also need to be considered, including some that we would not normally think of as having any relationship to workplace stress at all. Second, the organisational and structural causes of stress seem likely to have significant implications for workplaces that are not arranged along ‘traditional’ lines, such as workplaces with significant use of casual work or platforms in the gig economy. Both of these points do, of course, raise huge issues, so I will need to confine myself to offering an overview and suggesting some questions for further research.

A. Other Areas of Law

There are many different ways of illustrating the argument that a legal regime promoting ‘decent work’ has a significant role to play in combating workplace stress, but for reasons of space, I will offer just two examples: working time and trade union representation in the workplace. The examples are contrasting in the sense that the relationship with tackling stress is much more obvious in the case of working time than it is in the case of trade union representation. Thinking about these bodies of law from the perspective of stress sheds new light on how they might be justified and interpreted.

The relationship between stress and hours of work may be obvious, but the mechanisms involved are complex. In many workplaces, long hours working is a ‘coping strategy’ for dealing with the fact that the amount of work to be done (the ‘demands’ of the job) far exceeds what can be accomplished in ‘normal’ working hours. 112 This may not be a problem if it is only occasional and foreseeable—a surge in demand in a retail business just before Christmas, for example—but long-term or unpredictable long-hours working can be a significant stressor. Long-term long-hours working impedes workers’ ability to spend time resting and recuperating, and can generate a sense of deep dissatisfaction through the inability ever to feel on top of job demands.

The Working Time Regulations (WTR) 1998 113 do, of course, have a health and safety objective at their heart, since they implement a Directive based on the EU’s health and safety competence. 114 In addition to the various enforcement mechanisms in the Regulations themselves, they have come to play a role in tort claims relating to workplace stress. Where the employer knows that the employee is working significantly in excess of the 48-hour limit, this can be relevant to the question whether the employee’s stress-related illness was reasonably foreseeable, particularly if the employee has refused to sign an opt-out and has complained about excessive hours. 115 However, thinking about the WTR from the perspective of stress adds a new dimension to the old argument about the legitimacy of the opt-out. The opt-out has long been controversial, in particular because of the likelihood that many workers will have no choice but to sign an opt-out as a condition of getting or keeping a job, so that the genuineness of any ‘consent’ they might have given can be called into question. 116 But from a stress perspective, the worry is that the opt-out might legitimise long-hours working as a means of coping with excessive workloads, rather than forcing the employer to tackle the cause of the problem, either by reassigning or reorganising work or by helping workers to manage their workloads more effectively. In particular, because the opt-out once signed remains valid for the duration of the employment, there is no obvious means of forcing the employer to review the situation to assess the impact of long-hours working on the worker over time.

A less obvious example of a body of law with relevance to workplace stress is that relating to trade union recognition and collective bargaining. On a simple level, collectively bargained terms and conditions are likely to ensure that workers are better paid for their efforts, which under some older models is considered to be a good protection against workplace stress. On a more sophisticated view though, a trade union presence in the workplace can help to give workers a voice on a variety of fronts: for example, in managing demands, such as excessive workloads, or securing resources, such as better training or support services. Empirical evidence suggests that unionised workplaces offer a wider variety of mechanisms for workers to articulate their concerns. 117 Perhaps most importantly, trade union representatives can play a significant role in coping with change in the workplace, which can be a significant source of stress for workers, particularly if they do not know what is happening and do not feel that their interests are being represented. For example, where unions are strong, employers might be more willing to respond to a need to improve productivity by training and empowering workers rather than by developing ever more aggressive performance monitoring strategies. 118

Of course, this is not to suggest that dealing with workplace stress should be regarded as a principal justification for policies to promote trade union membership or to support collective representation at work. But it does highlight a hidden cost of the failure to make these policies a central plank of labour policy in the UK over the past few decades. As workplaces have become more individualistic, there are fewer institutions in place to serve as ‘buffers’ against the kinds of job demands that can lead to stress-related illness. Both workers and, ultimately, employers have suffered as a result.

B. Casual or Platform Work

A thread running throughout this article has been a concern about the situation of working people who are not employees in ‘traditional’ jobs. This group tends to be under-represented in occupational health research, and faces uncertainties about legal entitlements. One of the key indicators of stress levels in the economy—working days lost through sickness absence due to stress—does not cover casual workers for whom the concept of a ‘sick day’ does not exist. What I want to highlight here is the extent to which temporary, casual or ‘gig’ work is likely to involve a combination of high demands and low resources, not just as a matter of a particular context at a particular time, but as a matter of the inherent structure of the job.

Of course, it is important to be careful about sweeping generalisations covering large numbers of differently-situated working people. However, we could reasonably hypothesise that some of the key problems associated with distress at work are likely to be more present in on-demand working of various kinds than they are in traditional jobs. 119 For present purposes, four examples will suffice. First, as we have seen, job insecurity has been shown to be a predictor of distress, and this is inherent in temporary or casual working. Second, constant work availability is associated with negative outcomes for permanent employees—for example, being expected to respond to work calls outside normal working hours—which might suggest that being called upon to work unpredictably and at short notice will also be a stressor for casual workers in particular. Third, having control over work tasks is a key resource which can buffer against stress, but this is wholly absent in some parts of the ‘gig’ economy where, once the worker has logged on to an app, their every move is governed by the app’s dictates. Fourth, having supportive colleagues is another buffering resource, but this is less likely to be present among dispersed workers who may not be able to meet each other very easily to develop a sense of community, and may be more obviously in competition with each other for the available work.

In practice, some of these hypotheses are not entirely borne out by the literature. One key example is around job insecurity. Here, the evidence tends to suggest that permanent employees react more strongly to job insecurity than do temporary workers. 120 However, the reason for this is significant. Permanent employees expect a high level of job security, so rumours that jobs may be at risk (for example) have a particularly harmful effect because they breach those expectations, taking away one of the valuable things about having a permanent job. Temporary workers experience this form of distress much less readily because they have lower expectations of security in the first place. Another key variant is the relationship between the individual’s job and other activities. For example, there is evidence to support the view that workers with ‘gig’ economy jobs are happier where the job is not their sole source of income or sole activity. 121 So a student doing a delivery job at weekends to make some extra money is likely to experience this very differently to someone doing the delivery job as their main job to support their family. The ‘gamification’ of some gig economy jobs—where completing a task quickly is rewarded in some way, as if it were a computer game—plays into this distinction, by making unskilled and potentially tedious work ‘fun’ for people who do not depend on it.

However, the literature exploring stress among gig economy workers is very much in its early stages of development, and there is relatively little material on more long-standing but similar phenomena such as temporary or casual working, so there is a lot more research to be done. From a legal perspective, it would be helpful to see greater dialogue between lawyers and psychologists on the most appropriate way to frame research questions about different forms of working.

My aim in this article has been to draw attention to a difference of emphasis between the psychology literature on stress and the legal approach. While the law tends to treat stress as a matter of individual vulnerability, to be addressed through tweaks to a person’s job or the provision of counselling, the psychology literature opens up the idea that a much broader range of factors can have an effect—positive or negative—on stress at work and its negative health effects. These are principally concerned with the way in which work is organised and managed—factors such as employee voice, support from colleagues or job security, for example—with the individual’s own susceptibility occupying a much less prominent place in the analysis. I draw three conclusions from this work.

First, the law should be more open to the idea that stress can have structural causes and that strategies to prevent or reduce the prevalence of stress should focus on structural change as well as support for individuals. This might be relevant in several different ways. For example, in risk assessments, greater emphasis might be placed on reviewing and altering workplace practices that contribute to stress—such as job insecurity or the lack of a mechanism for employee voice—as well as on factors relating to the individual’s job. In tort litigation, the courts could be more open to the idea that poor workplace practices may, in some cases, make harm foreseeable even where the affected individual had not shown previous signs of stress-related ill-health.

Second, we should be more aware of the role of worker well-being as a potential secondary justification for various elements of labour law. I do not wish to suggest that well-being can displace other more familiar justifications, such as inequality of bargaining power, dignity or human rights, but rather that it adds another important dimension to a multi-faceted approach to justifying labour law. Many elements of labour law—controls on working hours, rights relating to trade union recognition, protection against unfair dismissal and so on—can be seen as having a positive effect on employee well-being by buffering against stress. An attraction of well-being as a justification is that it is effective from multiple perspectives: it is an aspect of the dignity of working people, it benefits employers because happy and healthy workers are likely to be more productive, and it benefits the state because there should be less call on sickness benefits or healthcare services if workers are well-cared-for at work. Of course, it is incomplete—any one intervention is not likely to be transformative in its own right—but it should be given greater consideration than at present. This is potentially particularly important in relation to the gig economy, where harm to workers’ health and well-being is a significant argument against being allowed systematically to dispense with the normal protective structures of employment law.

Third, there is an urgent need for further research on the psychological effects of work in the ‘gig economy’ and of casual work more generally. I drew attention earlier to the limited range of psychology literature on this topic and the general tendency to focus on standard long-term employment relationships when examining employees’ responses to demands and resources at work. There are good reasons to believe that casual work may have negative effects on workers’ well-being, both because of its inherent uncertainty and irregularity and because of the knock-on consequences of that uncertainty, such as difficulties in organising workers or providing them with support from colleagues. But—as the example of temporary work and job insecurity shows—the picture is not entirely straightforward and it would be preferable to have more evidence from which reliable conclusions could be drawn.

I would like to thank Hugh Series and the Editor and referees for comments on an earlier draft, and participants in the Industrial Law Society’s online conference in September 2020 and the University of Haifa’s faculty seminar in January 2021 for their input. Responsibility for errors and omissions remains my own.

Health and Safety Executive, Work-Related Stress, Anxiety or Depression Statistics in Great Britain, 2019 (October 2019), drawing on data from the Labour Force Survey and the Health and Occupation Research Network for general practitioners. In 2018–19, stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 44% of work-related ill health and 54% of working days lost.

ACAS, Stress and Anxiety at Work: Personal or Cultural? (May 2019).

See, for example, A. Väänänen et al., ‘The Double Burden of and Negative Spillover Between Paid and Domestic Work: Associations with Health Among Men and Women’ (2005) 40 Women and Health 1–18.

See T.H. Holmes and R.H. Rahe, ‘The Social Readjustment Rating Scale’ (1967) 11 Journal of Psychosomatic Research 213, 216.

Two leading scholars in the area are Brenda Barrett and Graeme Lockwood. See, for example, B. Barrett, ‘Should Employers Be Held More Responsible for Stress at the Work Place?’ (2011) 11 Contemporary Issues in Law 37; ‘Psychiatric Stress – An Unacceptable Cost to Employers’ (2008) 1 Journal of Business Law 64; Graeme Lockwood et al., ‘An Assessment of Employer Liability for Workplace Stress’ (2017) 59 International Journal of Law and Management 202.

See, for example, P. Handford, ‘Psychiatric Injury in Breach of a Relationship’ (2007) 27 Legal Studies 26, setting the employment cases in their broader context.

See, for example, M. Bell, ‘Mental Health at Work and the Duty to Make Reasonable Adjustments’ (2015) 44 ILJ 194; G. Lockwood et al., ‘Mental Health Disability Discrimination: Law Policy and Practice’ (2014) 14 International Journal of Discrimination and the Law 168.

See Barrett (2008), above n.7, 66–7.

Walker v Northumberland CC [1995] ICR 702.

See, for example, M. Hudson, The Management of Mental Health at Work (London: ACAS, November 2016), 2.1.

Relevant legislation includes Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833); Employment Rights Act 1996, s 57A.

https://www.lexico.com/definition/stress (last visited 24 March 2021).

Known as the Yerkes-Dodson law: RM Yerkes and JD Dodson, ‘The Relation of Strength of Stimulus to Rapidity of Habit-Formation’ (1908) 18 Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology 459.

A term coined by H. Selye, Stress without Distress (Philadelphia: JB Lippincott Co, 1974).

RS Lazarus and S Folkman, Stress, Appraisal and Coping (New York: Springer 1984), 21.

See, generally, American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5 , 5th edn (Washington: American Psychiatric Publishing 2013). The lines are blurred somewhat by the World Health Organisation’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems , 10th Revision (Geneva: WHO, 2019), which includes as code F43 a category of diagnosable disorders labelled ‘reaction to severe stress and adjustment disorders’, though these tend to be triggered by acute stressors.

See, for example, AE Nixon et al., ‘Can Work Make You Sick? A Meta-Analysis of the Relationships between Job Stressors and Physical Symptoms’ (2011) 25 Work and Stress 1; N. Schneiderman et al., ‘Stress and Health: Psychological, Behavioral, and Biological Determinants’, (2005) 1 Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 607.

See, for example, RA Karasek, ‘Job Demands, Job Decision Latitude, and Mental Strain: Implications for Job Design’ (1979) 24 Administrative Science Quarterly 285; R Karasek and T Theorell, Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life (New York: Basic Books 1990).

For example, J Siegrist, ‘Adverse Health Effects of High Effort-Low Reward Conditions’ (1996) 1 Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 27.

AB Bakker and E Demerouti, ‘The Job Demands‐Resources Model: State of the Art’ (2007) 22 Journal of Managerial Psychology 309, 311–2.

E Demerouti et al., ‘The Job Demands-Resources Model of Burnout’ (2001) 86 Journal of Applied Psychology 499; AB Bakker et al., ‘Job Resources Buffer the Impact of Job Demands on Burnout’ (2005) 10 Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 170; Bakker and Demerouti (2007), above n.24; AB Bakker and E Demerouti, ‘Job Demands-Resources Theory: Taking Stock and Looking Forward’ (2017) 22 Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 273.

Demerouti et al. (2001), above n.25, 501.

Ibid. 501–2.

AB Bakker and E Demerouti, ‘Job Demands-Resources Theory’ in PY Chen and C Cooper (eds), Wellbeing: A Complete Reference Guide (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2014), 45.

Bakker and Demerouti (2007), above n.24, 314–5.

WB Schaufeli and TW Taris, ‘A Critical Review of the Job Demands-Resources Model: Implications for Improving Work and Health’ in GF Bauer and O Hämmig (eds), Bridging Occupational, Organizational and Public Health: A Transdisciplinary Approach (Dordrecht: Springer 2014).

For example, Schaufeli and Taris, above n.31; A van den Broeck et al., ‘Not all Demands are Equal: Differentiating Job Hindrances and Job Challenges in the Job Demands-Resources Model’ (2010) 19 European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 735.

Above n.28, 45.

K Nielsen et al., ‘Workplace Resources to Improve Both Employee Well-Being and Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’ (2017) 31 Work and Stress 101, 102.

See D Xanthopoulou et al., ‘The Role of Personal Resources in the Job Demands-Resources Model’ (2007) 14 International Journal of Stress Management 121, 123–4; D Xanthopoulou et al., ‘Work Engagement and Financial Returns: A Diary Study on the Role of Job and Personal Resources’ (2009) 82 Journal of Organizational and Occupational Psychology 183.

For example, A Wrzesniewski and JE Dutton, ‘Crafting a Job: Revisioning Employees as Active Crafters of their Work’ (2001) 26 Academy of Management Review 179.

For example, P Torrente et al., ‘Teams Make it Work: How Team Work Engagement Mediates between Social Resources and Performance in Teams’ (2012) 24 Psicotema 106.

For an overview, see J Skakon et al., ‘The Impact of Leaders on Employee Stress and Affective Well-Being: A Systematic Review of Three Decades of Empirical Research’ (2010) 24 Work and Stress 107.

For example, Karasek, above n.22; B Schreurs et al., ‘Job Insecurity and Employee Health: the Buffering Potential of Job Control and Job Self-Efficacy’ (2010) 24 Work and Stress 56.

See S Schieman and MC Young, ‘Are Communications about Work Outside Regular Working Hours Associated with Work-to-Family Conflict, Psychological Distress and Sleep Problems?’ (2013) 27 Work and Stress 244; A Väänänen and M Toivanen, ‘The Challenge of Tied Autonomy for Traditional Work Stress Models’ (2018) 32 Work and Stress 1.

A well-known paper on this topic is JR Hackman and GR Oldham, ‘Motivation through the Design of Work: Test of a Theory’ (1976) 16 Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 250.

For an overview of studies in this area, see K van De Voorde et al., ‘Employee Well-Being and the HRM–Organizational Performance Relationship: A Review of Quantitative Studies’ (2012) 14 International Journal of Management Reviews 391.

For example, Schreurs, above n.40.

For useful meta-analyses, see ER Crawford et al., ‘Linking Job Demands and Resources to Employee Engagement and Burnout: a Theoretical Extension and Meta-Analytic Test’ (2010) 95 Journal of Applied Psychology 834; JRB Halbesleben, ‘A Meta-Analysis of Work Engagement: Relationships with Burnout, Demands, Resources and Consequences’ in AB Bakker and MP Leiter (eds), Work Engagement: a Handbook of Essential Theory and Research (New York: Psychology Press 2010).

For example, AB Bakker et al., ‘Dual Processes at Work in a Call Centre: an Application of the Job Demands-Resources Model’ (2003) 12 European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 393; AB Bakker et al., ‘A Multigroup Analysis of the Job Demands-Resources Model in Four Home Care Organizations’ (2003) 10 International Journal of Stress Management 16.

For example, Demerouti et al. (2001), above n.25.

For an overview, see T Lesener et al., ‘The Job Demands-Resources Model: A Meta-Analytic Review of Longitudinal Studies’ (2019) 33 Work and Stress 76.

Schaufeli and Taris, above n.31.

See G Tinline and C Cooper, ‘Work-Related Stress: The Solution Is Management Not Mindfulness’ (2019) 48 Organizational Dynamics 93. It is perhaps telling that early versions of the JD-R model did not include individual resources at all and that this is a later addition to the model: see Bakker and Demerouti, above n.28; Schaufeli and Taris, above n.31.

For example, Bakker and Demerouti, above n.28, 53–8; T Cox et al., Organisational Interventions for Work Stress: A Risk Management Approach (London: HSE Books, 2000); C Mackay et al., ‘“Management Standards” and Work-Related Stress in the UK: Policy Background and Science’ (2004) 18 Work and Stress 91; Nielsen, above n.35, 115.

See C Bernhard-Oettel et al., ‘Comparing Three Alternative Types of Employment with Permanent Full-Time Work: How Do Employment Contract and Perceived Job Conditions Relate to Health Complaints?’ (2005) 19 Work and Stress 301; M Clarke et al., ‘“This Just Isn’t Sustainable”: Precarious Employment, Stress and Workers’ Health’ (2007) 30 International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 311; L Hünefeld et al., ‘Job Satisfaction and Mental Health of Temporary Agency Workers in Europe: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda’ (2020) 34 Work and Stress 82.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang--en/index.htm (last visited 24 March 2021).

Disability discrimination law may also be relevant where a worker develops a disability as a result of stress at work, or where stress exacerbates an existing disability (above n.9), but for reasons of space, I will not consider this in detail here.

Many people regard the term ‘psychiatric injury’ as unhelpful but I use it here because it is used by the courts. It is used to distinguish feelings such as grief or shock from more serious problems for which compensation may be sought.

I discuss the significance of the definition of ‘employee’ further below.

Section 2(3).

Section 2(4)–(7).

SI 1999/3242.

Council Directive 89/391/EC on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the health and safety of workers at work (‘the Framework Directive’), Article 1.

Health and Safety Executive, Stress at Work: A Guide for Employers (London: HSE Books, 1995).

https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/ (last visited 24 March 2021). There is also a European social partner framework on stress (European Trade Union Confederation et al., Framework Agreement on Work-Related Stress (24 March 2021)), and a UK equivalent (Confederation of British Industry et al., Work Related Stress – A Guide (2005).

For evaluation, see K Nielsen et al., ‘Conducting Organizational-Level Occupational Health Interventions: What Works?’ (2010) 24 Work and Stress 234. For examples of research supported, commissioned or published by HSE, see T Cox, Stress Research and Stress Management: Putting Theory to Work (London: HSE Books, 1993); Cox et al. (2000), above n.51; Mackay et al. (2004), above n.51; R Cousins et al., “Management Standards” and Work-Related Stress in the UK: Practical Development’ (2004) 18 Work and Stress 113; JA Edwards et al., ‘Psychometric Analysis of the UK Health and Safety Executive’s Management Standards Work-Related Stress Indicator Tool’ (2008) 22 Work and Stress 96.

HSE, Tackling Work-Related Stress Using the Management Standards Approach: A Step-By-Step Workbook (March 2019).

HSE, Management Standards Indicator Tool (nd), available at https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/resources.htm (last visited 24 March 2021) under the ‘tools, templates and checklists’ tab.

Available at https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/resources.htm (last visited 24 March 2021) under the ‘tools, templates and checklists’ tab.

HSE, Talking Toolkit: Preventing Work-Related Stress (nd), available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/index.htm (last visited 24 March 2021).

Above n.65, 49.

An improvement notice relating to workplace stress was issued to West Dorset General Hospitals NHS Trust in 2003 and to United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust in 2009: see N. Paton, ‘HSE issues improvement notice to NHS trust’, Personnel Today, 17 March 2009.

There are searchable registers of notices and prosecutions at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/convictions.htm (last visited 24 March 2021).

See https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/reporting-concern.htm (last visited 24 March 2021), and B Liversedge, ‘HSE announces it will inspect stress “if criteria are met”, Safety Management (24 March 2021), available at: https://www.britsafe.org/publications/safety-management-magazine/safety-management-magazine/ (last visited 24 March 2021).

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013, SI 2013/1471.

See https://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/releases/westdorsetgen.pdf (last visited 17 August 2020).

I Ayres and J Braithwaite, Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate (Oxford: OUP, 1992).

Kennedy v Cordia (Services) LLP [2016] UKSC 6, [2016] ICR 325, [110].

R (Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2020] EWHC 3050 (Admin).

Above n.60.

Above n.82, [82]–[83].

Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, s 53(1).

Above n.60, and see Employment Rights Act 1996, ss 44 and 100. The government is, at the time of writing (March 2021), proposing to amend s 44. See the draft Employment Rights Act 1996 (Protection from Detriment in Health and Safety Cases) (Amendment) Order 2021.

Directive 89/656/EC on the use of personal protective equipment.

See https://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/enforcementguide/investigation/status-intro.htm (last visited 24 March 2021) and Lane v Shire Roofing [1995] IRLR 493.

Above n.65, Appendix 6.

There is virtually no case law considering other types of employment relationship, though Freedland makes a strong case for extending the duty, at least in modified form, to workers and others: M Freedland, The Personal Employment Contract (Oxford: OUP, 2005), 152.

An oft-cited summary is that provided by Swanwick J in Stokes v Guest, Keen and Nettlefold (Bolts and Nuts) Ltd. [1968] 1 WLR 1776, 1783.

See S Deakin and Z Adams, Markesinis and Deakin’s Tort Law , 8th edn (Oxford: OUP 2019), 123.

See Yapp v Foreign and Commonwealth Office [2014] EWCA Civ 1512, [2015] IRLR 112 for guidance on managing the differences between claims in contract and tort in this context.

An empirical study by Lockwood et al., above n.7, showed that very few claims in fact succeed.

This terminology is arguably unhelpful, but I use it for consistency with the case law. For a powerful critique of the requirement, see R Mulheron, ‘Rewriting the Requirement for a “Recognized Psychiatric Injury” in Negligence Claims’ (2012) 32 OJLS 77. For an analysis of the law in work and non-work cases, see D Nolan, ‘Psychiatric Injury at the Crossroads’ [2004] JPIL 1.

Hatton v Sutherland [2002] EWCA Civ 76, [2002] ICR 613, [23] (Hale LJ).

Hatton , above n.96, [24], referring to Law Commission and HSE materials cited at [3]–[10].

Ibid. [12].

Yapp , above n.93.

Ibid. [119]–[133], and see also Piepenbrock v London School of Economics and Political Science [2018] EWHC 2572 (QB), [2018] ELR 596.

One of the cases heard with Hartman v South Essex Mental Health and Community Care NHS Trust [2005] EWCA Civ 6, [2005] ICR 782, [126]–[138].

Although this might seem to create a perverse incentive not to ‘foresee’ injuries, the employer would have had a strong argument that it had not breached its duty of care had it implemented its own policy properly: ibid. [136].

Above n.11.

For example, Daw v Intel Corp (UK) Ltd [2007] EWCA Civ 70, [2007] ICR 1318; Dickins v O2 Plc [2008] EWCA Civ 1144, [2009] IRLR 58.

Hatton , above n.96, [43]. Breaches of health and safety law are relevant in negligence cases but do not obviate the need to establish all the usual elements of the claim, a point neatly illustrated by Bailey v Devon Partnership NHS Trust (QB, 11 July 2014, unreported).

Above nn 11 and 101, respectively.

Hatton , above n.96, [43], points 9 and 13.

Ibid. [33].

Ibid. [34].

Above n.101.

Above n.104.

For an early case tackling the issue from a contractual perspective, see Johnstone v Bloomsbury HA [1992] QB 333 (CA).

Above n.13.

Article 118a of the Treaty Establishing the European Community, now Article 153 TFEU, provided the basis for successive Working Time Directives, the latest being Directive 2003/88/EC.

Hone v Six Continents Retail Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 922, [2006] IRLR 49; but cf Sayers v Cambridgeshire CC [2006] EWHC 2029 (QB), [2007] IRLR 29.

For empirical evidence and discussion, see C Barnard et al., ‘Opting Out of the 48-Hour Week: Employer Necessity or Individual Choice? An Empirical Study of the Operation of Article 18(1)(b) of the Working Time Directive in the UK’ (2003) 32 ILJ 223, 245–8.

See, for example, J Benson, ‘Employee Voice in Union and Non-union Australian Workplaces’ (2000) 38 British Journal of Industrial Relations 453. However, it is important to acknowledge that stress is a significant problem in the UK public sector, which is highly unionised, suggesting that union voice may not always be a sufficient buffer against, for example, high levels of demand caused by budget cuts.

See V Doellgast, ‘Collective Voice under Decentralized Bargaining: A Comparative Study of Work Reorganization in US and German Call Centres (2010) 48 British Journal of Industrial Relations 375.

See the literature cited at n.52 above.

N de Cuyper and H de Witte, ‘Job Insecurity in Temporary Versus Permanent Workers: Associations with Attitudes, Well-Being, and Behaviour’ (2007) 21 Work and Stress 65.

Clarke et al., above n.52.

Email alerts

Citing articles via.

• Recommend to your Library

Affiliations

• Online ISSN 1464-3669
• Print ISSN 0305-9332
• Copyright © 2024 Industrial Law Society
• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Institutional account management
• Rights and permissions
• Get help with access
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Employee psychological well-being and job performance: exploring mediating and moderating mechanisms

International Journal of Organizational Analysis

ISSN : 1934-8835

Article publication date: 12 August 2020

Issue publication date: 7 May 2021

Given the importance of employee psychological well-being to job performance, this study aims to investigate the mediating role of affective commitment between psychological well-being and job performance while considering the moderating role of job insecurity on psychological well-being and affective commitment relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were gathered from employees working in cellular companies of Pakistan using paper-and-pencil surveys. A total of 280 responses were received. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling technique and Hayes’s Model 1.

Findings suggest that affective commitment mediates the association between psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and employee job performance. In addition, perceived job insecurity buffers the association of psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and affective commitment.

Practical implications

The study results suggest that fostering employee psychological well-being may be advantageous for the organization. However, if interventions aimed at ensuring job security are not made, it may result in adverse employee work-related attitudes and behaviors.

Originality/value

The study extends the current literature on employee well-being in two ways. First, by examining psychological well-being in terms of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being with employee work-related attitude and behavior. Second, by highlighting the prominent role played by perceived job insecurity in explaining some of these relationships.

• Psychological well-being
• Affective commitment
• Job insecurity
• Job performance
• Eudaimonic wellbeing
• Hedonic wellbeing

Kundi, Y.M. , Aboramadan, M. , Elhamalawi, E.M.I. and Shahid, S. (2021), "Employee psychological well-being and job performance: exploring mediating and moderating mechanisms", International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 736-754. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-05-2020-2204

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Yasir Mansoor Kundi, Mohammed Aboramadan, Eissa M.I. Elhamalawi and Subhan Shahid.

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

Does the employee well-being have important implications both at work and for other aspects of an employees’ life? Of course! For years, we have known that they impact life at work and a plethora of research has examined the impact of employee well-being on work outcomes (Karapinar et al. , 2019 ; Turban and Yan, 2016 ). What is less understood is how employee well-being impacts job performance. Evidence suggests that employee health and well-being are among the most critical factors for organizational success and performance (Bakker et al. , 2019 ; Turban and Yan, 2016 ). Several studies have documented that employee well-being leads to various individual and organizational outcomes such as increased organizational performance and productivity (Hewett et al. , 2018 ), customer satisfaction (Sharma et al. , 2016 ), employee engagement (Tisu et al. , 2020 ) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; Mousa et al. , 2020 ).

The organizations’ performance and productivity are tied to the performance of its employees (Shin and Konrad, 2017 ). Much evidence has shown the value of employee job performance (i.e. the measurable actions, behaviors and outcomes that employee engages in or bring about which are linked with and contribute to organizational goals; Viswesvaran and Ones, 2017 ) for organizational outcomes and success (Al Hammadi and Hussain, 2019 ; Shin and Konrad, 2017 ), which, in turn, has led scholars to seek to understand what drives employee performance. Personality traits (Tisu et al. , 2020 ), job conditions and organizational characteristics (Diamantidis and Chatzoglou, 2019 ) have all been identified as critical antecedents of employee job performance.

However, one important gap remains in current job performance research – namely, the role of psychological well-being in job performance (Hewett et al. , 2018 ). Although previous research has found happy workers to be more productive than less happy or unhappy workers (DiMaria et al. , 2020 ), a search of the literature revealed few studies on psychological well-being and job performance relationship (Salgado et al. , 2019 ; Turban and Yan, 2016 ). Also, very little is known about the processes that link psychological well-being to job performance. Only a narrow spectrum of well-being related antecedents of employee performance has been considered, especially in terms of psychological well-being. Enriching our understanding of the consequences and processes of psychological well-being in the workplace, the present study examines the relationship between psychological well-being and job performance in the workplace setting. Such knowledge will not only help managers to attain higher organizational performance during the uncertain times but will uncover how to keep employees happy and satisfied (DiMaria et al. , 2020 ).

Crucially, to advance job performance research, more work is needed to examine the relationship between employees’ psychological well-being and their job performance (Ismail et al. , 2019 ). As Salgado et al. (2019) elaborated, we need to consider how an employees’ well-being affects ones’ performance at work. In an attempt to fill this gap in the literature, the present study seeks to advance job performance research by linking ones’ psychological well-being in terms of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being to ones’ job performance. Hedonic well-being refers to the happiness achieved through experiences of pleasure and enjoyment, while eudaimonic well-being refers to the happiness achieved through experiences of meaning and purpose (Huta, 2016 ; Rahmani et al. , 2018 ). We argue that employees with high levels of psychological well-being will perform well as compared to those having lower levels of psychological well-being. We connect this psychological well-being-job performance process through an employee affective commitment (employees’ perceptions of their emotional attachment to or identification with their organization; Allen and Meyer, 1996 ) – by treating it as a mediating variable between well-being-performance relationship.

Additionally, we also examine the moderating role of perceived job insecurity in the well-being-performance relationship. Perceived job insecurity refers to has been defined as the perception of being threatened by job loss or an overall concern about the continued existence of the job in the future (De Witte et al. , 2015 ). There is evidence that perceived job insecurity diminishes employees’ level of satisfaction and happiness and may lead to adverse job-related outcomes such as decreased work engagement (Karatepe et al. , 2020 ), deviant behavior (Soomro et al. , 2020 ) and reduced employee performance (Piccoli et al. , 2017 ). Thus, addressing the gap mentioned above, this study has two-fold objectives; First, to examine how the path between psychological well-being and job performance is mediated through employee affective commitment. The reason to inquire about this path is that well-being is associated with an employees’ happiness, pleasure and personal growth (Ismail et al. , 2019 ). Therefore, higher the well-being, higher will be the employees’ affective commitment, which, in turn, will lead to enhanced job performance. The second objective is to empirically test the moderating effects of perceived job insecurity on employees’ emotional attachment with their organizations. Thus, we propose that higher job insecurity may reduce the well-being of employees and their interaction may result in lowering employees’ emotional attachment with their organization.

The present study brings together employee well-being and performance literature and contributes to these research areas in two ways. First, we contribute to this line of inquiry by investigating the direct and indirect crossover from hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being to employees’ job performance. We propose that psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) influence job performance through employee affective commitment. Second, prior research shows that the effect of well-being varies across individuals indicating the presence of possible moderators influencing the relationship between employee well-being and job outcomes (Lee, 2019 ). We, therefore, extend the previous literature by proposing and demonstrating the general possibility that perceived job insecurity might moderate the relationship of psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and affective commitment. While there is evidence that perceived job insecurity influence employees’ affective commitment (Schumacher et al. , 2016 ), what is not yet clear is the impact of perceived job insecurity on psychological well-being − affective commitment relationship. The proposed research model is depicted in Figure 1 .

2. Hypotheses development

2.1 psychological well-being and affective commitment.

Well-being is a broad concept that refers to individuals’ valued experience (Bandura, 1986 ) in which they become more effective in their work and other activities (Huang et al. , 2016 ). According to Diener (2009) , well-being as a subjective term, which describes people’s happiness, the fulfillment of wishes, satisfaction, abilities and task accomplishments. Employee well-being is further categorized into two types, namely, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being (Ballesteros-Leiva et al. , 2017 ). Compton et al. (1996) investigated 18 scales that assess employee well-being and found that all the scales are categorized into two broad categories, namely, subjective well-being and personal growth. The former is referred to as hedonic well-being (Ryan and Deci, 2000 ) whereas, the latter is referred to as eudaimonic well-being (Waterman, 1993 ).

Hedonic well-being is based on people’s cognitive component (i.e. people’s conscious assessment of all aspects of their life; Diener et al. , 1985 ) and affective component (i.e. people’s feelings that resulted because of experiencing positive or negative emotions in reaction to life; Ballesteros-Leiva et al. , 2017 ). In contrast, eudaimonic well-being describes people’s true nature and realization of their actual potential (Waterman, 1993 ). Eudaimonic well-being corresponds to happy life based upon ones’ self-reliance and self-truth (Ballesteros-Leiva et al. , 2017 ). Diener et al. (1985) argued that hedonic well-being focuses on happiness and has a more positive affect and greater life satisfaction, and focuses on pleasure, happiness and positive emotions (Ryan and Deci, 2000 ; Ryff, 2018 ). Contrarily, eudaimonic well-being is different from hedonic well-being as it focuses on true self and personal growth (Waterman, 1993 ), recognition for ones’ optimal ability and mastery ( Ryff, 2018 ). In the past, it has been found that hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being are relatively correlated with each other but are distinct concepts (Sheldon et al. , 2018 ).

To date, previous research has measured employee psychological well-being with different indicators such as thriving at work (Bakker et al. , 2019 ), life satisfaction (Clark et al. , 2019 ) and social support (Cai et al. , 2020 ) or general physical or psychological health (Grey et al. , 2018 ). Very limited studies have measured psychological well-being with hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, which warrants further exploration (Ballesteros-Leiva et al. , 2017 ). Therefore, this study assesses employee psychological well-being based upon two validated measures, namely, hedonic well-being (people’s satisfaction with life in general) and eudaimonic well-being (people’s personal accomplishment feelings).

Employee well-being has received some attention in organization studies (Huang et al. , 2016 ). Prior research has argued that happier and healthier employees increase their effort, performance and productivity (Huang et al. , 2016 ). Similarly, research has documented that employee well-being has a positive influence on employee work-related attitudes and behaviors such as, increasing OCB (Mousa et al. , 2020 ), as well as job performance (Magnier-Watanabe et al. , 2017 ) and decreasing employees’ work-family conflict (Karapinar et al. , 2019 ) and absenteeism (Schaumberg and Flynn, 2017 ). Although there is evidence that employee well-being positively influences employee work-related attitudes, less is known about the relationship between psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and employee affective commitment (Pan et al. , 2018 ; Semedo et al. , 2019 ). Moreover, the existing literature indicated that employee affective commitment is either used as an antecedent or an outcome variable of employee well-being (Semedo et al. , 2019 ; Ryff, 2018 ). However, affective commitment as an outcome variable of employee well-being has gained less scholarly attention, which warrants further investigation. Therefore, in the present study, we seek to examine employee affective commitment as an outcome variable of employee psychological well-being because employees who are happy and satisfied in their lives are more likely to be attached to their organizations (Semedo et al. , 2019 ).

Hedonic well-being positively predicts employee affective commitment.

Eudaimonic well-being positively predicts employee affective commitment.

2.2 Affective commitment and job performance

The concept of organizational commitment was first initiated by sit-bet theory in the early 1960s (Becker, 1960 ). Organizational commitment is defined as the psychological connection of employees to the organization and involvement in it (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005 ). It is also defined as the belief of an individual in his or her organizational norms (Hackett et al. , 2001 ); the loyalty of an employee toward the organization (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005 ) and willingness of an employee to participate in organizational duties (Williams and Anderson, 1991 ).

Organizational commitment is further categorized into three correlated but distinct categories (Meyer et al. , 1993 ), known as affective, normative and continuance. In affective commitment, employees are emotionally attached to their organization. In normative commitment, employees remain committed to their organizations due to the sense of obligation to serve. While in continuance commitment, employees remain committed to their organization because of the costs associated with leaving the organization (Allen and Meyer, 1990 , p. 2). Among the dimensions of organizational commitment, affective commitment has been found to have the most substantial influence on organizational outcomes (Meyer and Herscovitch, 2001 ). It is a better predictor of OCB (Paul et al. , 2019 ), low turnover intention (Kundi et al. , 2018 ) and job performance (Jain and Sullivan, 2019 ).

Affective commitment positively predict employee job performance.

2.3 Affective commitment as a mediator

Many studies had used the construct of affective commitment as an independent variable, mediator and moderating variable because of its importance as an effective determinant of work outcomes such as low turnover intention, job satisfaction and job performance (Jain and Sullivan, 2019 ; Kundi et al. , 2018 ). There is very little published research on employee well-being and affective commitment relationship. Surprisingly, the effects of employee psychological well-being in terms of hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being have not been closely examined.

Affective commitment mediates the association between hedonic well-being and job performance.

Affective commitment mediates the association between eudaimonic well-being and job performance.

2.4 The moderating role of job insecurity

Job insecurity is gaining importance because of the change in organizational structure as it is becoming flattered, change in the nature of the job as it requires a diverse skill set and change in human resource (HR) practices as more temporary workers are hired nowadays (Piccoli et al. , 2017 ; Kundi et al. , 2018 ). Such changes have caused several adverse outcomes such as job dissatisfaction (Bouzari and Karatepe, 2018 ), unethical pro-organizational behavior (Ghosh, 2017 ), poor performance (Piccoli et al. , 2017 ), anxiety and lack of commitment (Wang et al. , 2018 ).

Lack of harmony on the definition of job insecurity can be found among the researchers. However, a majority of them acknowledge that job insecurity is subjective and can be referred to as a subjective perception (Wang et al. , 2018 ). Furthermore, job insecurity is described as the perception of an employee regarding the menace of losing a job in the near future (De Witte et al. , 2015 ). When there is job insecurity, employees experience a sense of threat to the continuance and stability of their jobs (Shoss, 2017 ).

Although job insecurity has been found to influence employee work-related attitudes, less is known about its effects on behavioral outcomes (Piccoli et al. , 2017 ). As maintained by the social exchange theory, behaviors are the result of an exchange process (Blau, 1964 ). Furthermore, these exchanges can be either tangible or socio-emotional aspects of the exchange process (Kundi et al. , 2018 ). Employees who perceive and feel that their organization is providing them job security and taking care of their well-being will turn to be more committed to their organization (Kundi et al. , 2018 ; Wang et al. , 2018 ). Much research has found that employees who feel job security are happier and satisfied with their lives (Shoss, 2017 ; De Witte et al. , 2015 ) and are more committed to their work and organization (Bouzari and Karatepe, 2018 ; Wang et al. , 2018 ). Shoss (2017) conducted a thorough study on job insecurity and found that job insecurity can cause severe adverse consequences for both the employees and organizations.

Employees who are uncertain about their jobs (i.e. high level of perceived job insecurity) are less committed with their organizations.

Employees with temporary job contracts were found to have low organizational committed as compared to the employees with permanent job contracts.

Such a difference between temporary and permanent job contract holders was mainly due to the perceived job insecurity by the temporary job contract holders.

Job insecurity will moderate the relationship between hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being and affective organizational commitment.

3.1 Sample and procedure

The data for this study came from a survey of Pakistani employees, who worked in five private telecommunication organizations (Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Zong and Warid). These five companies were targeted because they are the largest and highly competitive companies in Pakistan. Moreover, the telecom sector is a private sector where jobs are temporary or contractual (Kundi et al. , 2018 ). Hence, the investigation of how employees’ perceptions of job insecurity influence their psychological well-being and its outcomes is highly relevant in this context. Studies exploring such a phenomenon are needed, particularly in the Pakistani context, to have a better insight and thereby strengthen the employee well-being and job performance literature.

Two of the authors had personal and professional contacts to gain access to these organizations. The paper-and-pencil method was used to gather the data. Questionnaires were distributed among 570 participants with a cover letter explaining the purpose of the study, noted that participation was voluntary, and provided assurances that their responses would be kept confidential and anonymous. After completion of the questionnaires, the surveys were collected the surveys on-site by one of the authors. As self-reported data often render itself to common method bias (CMB; Podsakoff et al. , 2012 ), we applied several procedural remedies such as reducing the ambiguity in the questions, ensuring respondent anonymity and confidentiality, separating of the predictor and criterion variable and randomizing the item order to limit this bias.

Of the 570 surveys distributed initially, 280 employees completed the survey form (response rate = 49%). According to Baruch and Holtom (2008) , the average response rate for studies at the individual level is 52.6% (SD = 19.7). Hence, our response rate meets the standard for a minimum acceptable response rate, which is 49%. Of the 280 respondents, 39% were female, their mean age was 35.6 years (SD = 5.22) and the average organizational tenure was 8.61 years (SD  =  4.21). The majority of the respondents had at least a bachelors’ degree (83 %). Respondents represented a variety of departments, including marketing (29%), customer services (26%), finance (20%), IT (13%) and HR (12%).

3.2 Measures

The survey was administered to the participants in English. English is the official language of correspondence for professional organizations in Pakistan (De Clercq et al. , 2019 ). All the constructs came from previous research and anchored on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = Strongly disagree to 5 = Strongly agree.

Psychological well-being. We measured employee psychological well-being with two sub-dimensions, namely, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being. Hedonic well-being was measured using five items (Diener et al. , 1985 ). A sample item is “my life conditions are excellent” ( α = 0.86). Eudaimonic well-being was measured using 21 items (Waterman et al. , 2010 ), of which seven items were reverse-scored due to its negative nature. Sample items are “I feel that I understand what I was meant to do in my life” and “my life is centered around a set of core beliefs that give meaning to my life” ( α = 0.81).

Affective commitment. The affective commitment was measured using a six-item inventory developed by Allen and Meyer (1990) . The sample items are “my organization inspires me to put forth my best effort” and “I think that I will be able to continue working here” ( α = 0.91).

Job insecurity. Job insecurity was measured using a five-item inventory developed by Chirumbolo et al. (2015) . The sample item is “I fear I will lose my job” ( α = 0.87).

Job performance . We measured employee job performance with the seven-item inventory developed by Williams and Anderson (1991) . The sample items are “I do fulfill my responsibilities, which are mentioned in the job description” and “I try to work as hard as possible” ( α = 0.87).

Controls. We controlled for respondents’ age (assessed in years), gender (1 = male, 2 = female) and organizational tenure (assessed in years) because prior research (Alessandri et al. , 2019 ; Edgar et al. , 2020 ) has found significant effects of these variables on employees’ job performance.

4.1 Descriptive statistics

Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations and correlations among study variables.

4.2 Construct validity

Before testing hypotheses, we conducted a series of confirmatory factor analyzes (CFAs) using AMOS 22.0 to examine the distinctiveness of our study variables. Following the guidelines of Hu and Bentler (1999) , model fitness was assessed with following fit indices; comparative fit index (CFI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR). We used a parceling technique (Little et al. , 2002 ) to ensure item to sample size ratio. According to Williams and O’Boyle (2008) , the item-parceling approach is widely used in HRM research, which allows estimation of fewer model parameters and subsequently leads to the optimal variable to sample size ratio and stable parameter estimates (Wang and Wang, 2019 ). Based on preliminary CFAs, we combined the highest item loading with the lowest item loading to create parcels that were equally balanced in terms of their difficulty and discrimination. Item-parceling was done only for the construct of eudaimonic well-being as it entailed a large number of items (i.e. 21 items). Accordingly, we made five parcels for the eudaimonic well-being construct (Waterman et al. , 2010 ).

As shown in Table 2 , the CFA results revealed that the baseline five‐factor model (hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being, job insecurity, affective commitment and job performance) was significant ( χ 2 = 377.11, df = 199, CFI = 0.971, RMSEA = 0.034 and SRMR = 0.044) and better than the alternate models, including a four‐factor model in which hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being were considered as one construct (Δ χ 2 = 203.056, Δdf = 6), a three-factor model in which hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being and affective commitment were loaded on one construct (Δ χ 2 = 308.99, Δdf = 8) and a one‐factor model in which all items loaded on one construct (Δ χ 2 = 560.77, Δdf = 11). The results, therefore, provided support for the distinctive nature of our study variables.

To ensure the validity of our measures, we first examined the convergent validity through the average variance extracted (AVE). We found AVE scores higher than the threshold value of 0.5 ( Table 1 ; Fornell and Larcker, 1981 ), supporting the convergent validity of our constructs. We also estimated discriminant validity by comparing the AVE of each construct with the average shared variance (ASV), i.e. mean of the squared correlations among constructs ( Hair et al. , 2010 ). As expected, all the values of AVE were higher than the ASV constructs, thereby supporting discriminant validity ( Table 1 ).

4.3 Common method variance

Harman’s one-factor test.

CFA ( Podsakoff et al. , 2012 ).

Harman’s one-factor test showed five factors with eigenvalues of greater than 1.0 accounted for 69.12% of the variance in the exogenous and endogenous variables. The results of CFA showed that the single-factor model did not fit the data well ( χ 2 = 937.88, df = 210, CFI = 0.642, RMSEA = 0.136, SRMR = 0.122). These tests showed that CMV was not a major issue in this study.

4.4 Hypotheses testing

The hypotheses pertaining to mediation were tested using a structural model in AMOS 22.0 ( Figure 2 ), which had an acceptable goodness of fit ( χ 2 = 298.01, df = 175, CFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.04 and SRMR = 0.04). Hypotheses about moderation were tested in SPSS (25 th edition) using PROCESS Model I ( Hayes, 2017 ; Table 3 ).

H1a and H1b suggested that hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being positively relate to employee affective commitment. According to Figure 2 , the results indicate that hedonic well-being ( β = 0.26, p < 0.01) and eudaimonic well-being ( β = 0.32, p < 0.01) are positively related to employee affective commitment. Taken together, these two findings provide support for H1a and H1b . In H2 , we predicted that employee affective commitment would positively associate with employee job performance. As seen in Figure 2 , employee affective commitment positively predicted employee job performance ( β = 0.41, p < 0.01), supporting H2 .

H3a and H3b suggested that employee affective commitment mediates the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and employee job performance. According to Figure 2 , the results indicate that hedonic well-being is positively related to employee job performance via employee affective commitment ( β = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.09; 0.23). Similarly, eudaimonic well-being is positively related to employee job performance via employee affective commitment ( β = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.12; 0.35), supporting H3a and H3b .

Hedonic well-being.

Eudaimonic well-being and employee affective commitment.

In support of H4a , our results ( Table 3 ) revealed a negative and significant interaction effect between hedonic well-being and job insecurity on employee affective commitment ( β = −0.12, p < 0.05). The pattern of this interaction was consistent with our hypothesized direction; the positive relationship between hedonic well-being and employee affective commitment was weaker in the presence of high versus low job insecurity ( Figure 3 ). Likewise, the interaction effect between eudaimonic well-being and job insecurity on employee affective commitment was negatively significant ( β = −0.28, p < 0.01). The pattern of this interaction was consistent with our hypothesized direction; the positive relationship between eudaimonic well-being and employee affective commitment was weaker in the presence of high versus low job insecuritay ( Figure 4 ). Thus, H4a and H4b were supported. The pattern of these interactions was consistent with our hypothesized direction; the positive relationship of hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being with an employee affective commitment were weaker in the presence of high versus low perceived job insecurity.

5. Discussion

The present research examined the direct and indirect crossover from psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) to job performance through employee affective commitment and the moderating role of job insecurity between psychological well-being and affective commitment relationship. The results revealed that both hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being has a direct and indirect effect on employee job performance. Employee affective commitment was found to be a potential mediating mechanism (explaining partial variance) in the relationship between psychological well-being and job performance. Findings regarding the buffering role of job insecurity revealed that job insecurity buffers the positive relationship between psychological well-being and employee affective commitment such that higher the job insecurity, lower will be employee affective commitment. The findings generally highlight and reinforce that perceived job insecurity can be detrimental for both employees’ well-being and job-related behaviors (Soomro et al. , 2020 ).

5.1 Theoretical implications

The present study offers several contributions to employee well-being and job performance literature. First, the present research extends the employee well-being literature by investigating employee affective commitment as a key mechanism through which psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) influences employees’ job performance. In line with SDT, we found that both hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being enhanced employees’ affective commitment, which, in turn, led them to perform better in their jobs. Our study addresses recent calls for research to understand better how psychological well-being influence employees’ performance at work (Huang et al. , 2016 ), and adds to a growing body of work, which confirms the importance of psychological well-being in promoting work-related attitudes and behaviors (Devonish, 2016 ; Hewett et al. , 2018 ; Ismail et al. , 2019 ). Further, we have extended the literature on employee affective commitment, highlighting that psychological well-being is an important antecedent of employee’ affective commitment and thereby confirming previous research by Aboramadan et al. (2020) on the links between affective commitment and job performance.

Second, our results provide empirical support for the efficacy of examining the different dimensions of employee well-being, i.e. hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being as opposed to an overall index of well-being at work. Specifically, our results revealed that both hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being boost both employees’ attachment with his or her organization and job performance (Hewett et al. , 2018 ; Luu, 2019 ). Among the indicators of psychological well-being, eudaimonic well-being (i.e. realization and fulfillment of ones’ true nature) was found to have more influence on employee affective commitment and job performance as compared to hedonic well-being (i.e. state of happiness and sense of flourishing in life). Therefore, employees who experience high levels of psychological well-being are likely to be more attached to their employer, which, in turn, boosts their job performance.

Third, job insecurity is considered as an important work-related stressor (Schumacher et al. , 2016 ). However, the moderating role of job insecurity on the relationship between psychological well-being and affective commitment has not been considered by the previous research. Based on social exchange theory (Blau, 1964 ), we expected job insecurity to buffer the positive relationship between the psychological well-being and affective commitment. The results showed that employees with high levels of perceived job insecurity reduce the positive relationship of psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and affective commitment. This finding is consistent with previous empirical evidence supporting the adverse role of perceived job insecurity in reducing employees’ belongingness with their organization (Jiang and Lavaysse, 2018 ). There is strong empirical evidence (Qian et al. , 2019 ; Schumacher et al. , 2016 ) that employee attitudes and health are negatively affected by increasing levels of job insecurity. Schumacher et al. (2016) suggested in an elaborate explanation of the social exchange theory that the constant worrying about the possibility of losing ones’ job promotes psychological stress and feelings of unfairness, which, in turn, affects employees’ affective commitment. Hence, employees’ psychological well-being and affective commitment are heavily influenced by the experience of high job insecurity.

5.2 Practical implications

Our study has several implications. First and foremost, this study will help managers in understanding the importance of employees’ psychological well-being for work-related attitudes and behavior. Based on our findings, managers need to understand how important psychological well-being is for employees’ organizational commitment and job performance. According to Hosie and Sevastos (2009) , several human resource-based interventions could foster employees’ psychological well-being, such as selecting and placing employees into appropriate positions, ensuring a friendly work environment and providing training that improves employees’ mental health and help them to manage their perceptions positively.

Besides, managers should provide their employees with opportunities to use their full potential, which will increase employees’ sense of autonomy and overall well-being (Sharma et al. , 2017 ). By promoting employee well-being in the workplace, managers can contribute to developing a workforce, which will be committed to their organizations and will have better job performance. However, based on our findings, in the presence of job insecurity, organizations spending on interventions to improve employees’ psychological well-being, organizational commitment and job performance might go in vain. In other words, organizations should ensure that employees feel a sense of job security or else the returns on such interventions could be nullified.

Finally, as organizations operate in a volatile and highly competitive environment, it is and will be difficult for them to provide high levels of job security to their employees, especially in developing countries such as Pakistan (Soomro et al. , 2020 ). Given the fact that job insecurity leads to cause adverse employee psychological well-being and affective commitment, managers must be attentive to subordinates’ perceptions of job insecurity and adverse psychological well-being and take action to prevent harmful consequences (Ma et al. , 2019 ). Organizations should try to avoid downsizings, layoffs and other types of structural changes, respectively, and find ways to boost employees’ perceptions of job security despite those changes. If this is not possible, i.e. the organization not able to provide job security, this should be communicated to employees honestly and early.

5.3 Limitations and future studies

There are several limitations to this study. First, we measured our research variables by using a self-report survey at a single point of time, which may result in CMB. We used various procedural remedies to mitigate the potential for CMB and conducted CFA as per the guidelines of Podsakoff et al. (2012) to ensure that CMV was unlikely to be an issue in our study. However, future research may rely on supervisors rated employees’ job performance or collect data at different time points to avoid the threat of such bias.

Second, the sample of this study consisted of employees working in cellular companies of Pakistan with different demographic characteristics and occupational backgrounds; thus, the generalizability of our findings to other industries or sectors is yet to be established. Future research should test our research model in various industries and cultures.

A final limitation pertains to the selection of a moderating variable. As this study was conducted in Pakistan, contextual factors such as the perceived threat to terrorism, law and order situation or perceived organizational injustice might also influence the psychological well-being of employees working in Pakistan (Jahanzeb et al. , 2020 ; Sarwar et al. , 2020 ). Future studies could consider the moderating role of such external factors in the relationship between employee psychological well-being, affective commitment and job performance.

6. Conclusion

This study proposed a framework to understand the relationship between employee psychological well-being, affective commitment and job performance. It also described how psychological well-being influences job performance. Additionally, this study examined the moderating role of perceived job insecurity on psychological well-being and affective commitment relationship. The results revealed that employee psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) has beneficial effects on employee affective commitment, which, in turn, enhance their job performance. Moreover, the results indicated that perceived job insecurity has ill effects on employee affective commitment, especially when the employee has high levels of perceived job insecurity.

Research model

Structural model with standardized coefficients; N = 280

Interactive effect of hedonic well-being and job insecurity on employee affective commitment

Interactive effect of eudaimonic well-being and job insecurity on employee affective commitment

Descriptive statistics and correlations among of variables

* p < 0.05,

** p < 0.01; Unstandardized coefficients and average bootstrap estimates are stated; demographic variables are controlled; bootstrapping procedure [5,000 iterations, bias-corrected, 95% CI]

Aboramadan , M. , Dahleez , K. and Hamad , M.H. ( 2020 ), “ Servant leadership and academics outcomes in higher education: the role of job satisfaction ”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 1 .

Alessandri , G. , Truxillo , D.M. , Tisak , J. , Fagnani , C. and Borgogni , L. ( 2019 ), “ Within-individual age-related trends, cycles, and event-driven changes in job performance: a career-span perspective ”, Journal of Business and Psychology , Vol. 1 , pp. 1 - 20 .

Allen , N.J. and Meyer , J.P. ( 1990 ), “ The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization ”, Journal of Occupational Psychology , Vol. 63 No. 1 , pp. 1 - 18 .

Allen , N.J. and Meyer , J.P. ( 1996 ), “ Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: an examination of construct validity ”, Journal of Vocational Behavior , Vol. 49 No. 3 , pp. 252 - 276 .

Al Hammadi , F. and Hussain , M. ( 2019 ), “ Sustainable organizational performance: a study of health-care organizations in the United Arab Emirates ”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 27 No. 1 , pp. 169 - 186 .

Bakker , A.B. , Hetland , J. , Olsen , O.K. and Espevik , R. ( 2019 ), “ Daily strengths use and employee wellbeing: the moderating role of personality ”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology , Vol. 92 No. 1 , pp. 144 - 168 .

Ballesteros-Leiva , F. , Poilpot-Rocaboy , G. and St-Onge , S. ( 2017 ), “ The relationship between life-domain interactions and the wellbeing of internationally mobile employees ”, Personnel Review , Vol. 46 No. 2 , pp. 237 - 254 .

Bandura , A. ( 1986 ), Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social-Cognitive View , Prentice-Hall , Englewood Cliffs, NJ .

Baruch , Y. and Holtom , B.C. ( 2008 ), “ Survey response rate levels and trends in organizational research ”, Human Relations , Vol. 61 No. 8 , pp. 1139 - 1160 .

Blau , P.M. ( 1964 ), Exchange and Power in Social Life , Wiley , New York, NY .

Becker , H.S. ( 1960 ), “ Notes on the concept of commitment ”, American Journal of Sociology , Vol. 66 No. 1 , pp. 32 - 40 .

Bouzari , M. and Karatepe , O.M. ( 2018 ), “ Antecedents and outcomes of job insecurity among salespeople ”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning , Vol. 36 No. 2 , pp. 290 - 302 .

Cai , L. , Wang , S. and Zhang , Y. ( 2020 ), “ Vacation travel, marital satisfaction, and subjective wellbeing: a chinese perspective ”, Journal of China Tourism Research , Vol. 16 No. 1 , pp. 118 - 139 .

Chirumbolo , A. , Hellgren , J. , De Witte , H. , Goslinga , S. , NäSwall , K. and Sverke , M. ( 2015 ), “ Psychometrical properties of a short measure of job insecurity: a European cross-cultural study ”, Rassegna di Psicologia , Vol. 3 , pp. 83 - 98 .

Clark , B. Chatterjee , K. Martin , A. and Davis , A. ( 2019 ), “ How commuting affects subjective wellbeing ”, Transportation .

Compton , W.C. , Smith , M.L. , Cornish , K.A. and Qualls , D.L. ( 1996 ), “ Factor structure of mental health measures ”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , Vol. 71 No. 2 , pp. 406 - 413 .

Cooper-Hakim , A. and Viswesvaran , C. ( 2005 ), “ The construct of work commitment: testing an integrative framework ”, Psychological Bulletin , Vol. 131 No. 2 , pp. 241 - 259 .

De Clercq , D. , Haq , I.U. and Azeem , M.U. ( 2019 ), “ Perceived contract violation and job satisfaction: buffering roles of emotion regulation skills and work-related self-efficacy ”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 28 No. 2 , pp. 383 - 398 .

De Witte , H. and Näswall , K. ( 2003 ), “ Objective’ vs subjective’ job insecurity: consequences of temporary work for job satisfaction and organizational commitment in four European countries ”, Economic and Industrial Democracy , Vol. 24 No. 2 , pp. 149 - 188 .

De Witte , H. Vander Elst , T. and De Cuyper , N. ( 2015 ), “ Job insecurity, health and well-being ”, Sustainable Working Lives , pp. 109 - 128 .

Deci , E.L. and Ryan , R.M. ( 1985 ), Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior , Springer Science and Business Media New York, NY .

Devonish , D. ( 2016 ), “ Emotional intelligence and job performance: the role of psychological well-being ”, International Journal of Workplace Health Management , Vol. 9 No. 4 , pp. 428 - 442 .

Diamantidis , A.D. and Chatzoglou , P. ( 2019 ), “ Factors affecting employee performance: an empirical approach ”, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management , Vol. 68 No. 1 , pp. 171 - 193 .

Diener , E. ( 2009 ), “ Subjective well-being ”, In The Science of Wellbeing , Springer , Dordrecht , pp. 11 - 58 .

Diener , E. , Emmons , R.A. , Larsen , R.J. and Griffin , S. ( 1985 ), “ The satisfaction with life scale ”, Journal of Personality Assessment , Vol. 49 No. 1 , pp. 71 - 75 .

DiMaria , C.H. , Peroni , C. and Sarracino , F. ( 2020 ), “ Happiness matters: productivity gains from subjective well-being ”, Journal of Happiness Studies , Vol. 21 No. 1 , pp. 139 - 160 .

Edgar , F. , Blaker , N.M. and Everett , A.M. ( 2020 ), “ Gender and job performance: linking the high performance work system with the ability–motivation–opportunity framework ”, Personnel Review , Vol. 1

Fornell , C. and Larcker , D.F. ( 1981 ), “ Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error ”, Journal of Marketing Research , Vol. 18 No. 1 , pp. 39 - 50 .

Ghosh , S.K. ( 2017 ), “ The direct and interactive effects of job insecurity and job embeddedness on unethical pro-organizational behavior ”, Personnel Review , Vol. 46 No. 6 , pp. 1182 - 1198 .

Grey , J.M. , Totsika , V. and Hastings , R.P. ( 2018 ), “ Physical and psychological health of family carers co-residing with an adult relative with an intellectual disability ”, Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities , Vol. 31 , pp. 191 - 202 .

Hackett , R.D. , Lapierre , L.M. and Hausdorf , P.A. ( 2001 ), “ Understanding the links between work commitment constructs ”, Journal of Vocational Behavior , Vol. 58 No. 3 , pp. 392 - 413 .

Hair , J.F. , Black , W.C. , Babin , B.J. and Anderson , R.E. ( 2010 ), Multivariate Data Analysis: A Global Perspective 7e , Pearson , Upper Saddle River, NJ .

Hayes , A.F. ( 2017 ), Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach , Guilford publications , New York .

Hewett , R. , Liefooghe , A. , Visockaite , G. and Roongrerngsuke , S. ( 2018 ), “ Bullying at work: cognitive appraisal of negative acts, coping, well-being, and performance ”, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology , Vol. 23 No. 1 , pp. 71 .

Hosie , P.J. and Sevastos , P. ( 2009 ), “ Does the “happy‐productive worker” thesis apply to managers? ”, International Journal of Workplace Health Management , Vol. 2 No. 2 , pp. 131 - 160 .

Hu , L. and Bentler , P.M. ( 1999 ), “ Cut-off criteria for fit indices in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives ”, Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal , Vol. 6 No. 1 , pp. 1 - 55 .

Huang , L.-C. , Ahlstrom , D. , Lee , A.Y.-P. , Chen , S.-Y. and Hsieh , M.-J. ( 2016 ), “ High performance work systems, employee wellbeing, and job involvement: an empirical study ”, Personnel Review , Vol. 45 No. 2 , pp. 296 - 314 .

Huta , V. ( 2016 ), “ An overview of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being concepts ”, Handbook of Media Use and Wellbeing: International Perspectives on Theory and Research on Positive Media Effects , Routldge London pp. 14 - 33 .

Ismail , H.N. , Karkoulian , S. and Kertechian , S.K. ( 2019 ), “ Which personal values matter most? job performance and job satisfaction across job categories ”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 27 No. 1 , pp. 109 - 124 .

Jahanzeb , S. , De Clercq , D. and Fatima , T. ( 2020 ), “ Organizational injustice and knowledge hiding: the roles of organizational dis-identification and benevolence ”, Management Decision , Vol. 1 .

Jain , A.K. and Sullivan , S. ( 2019 ), “ An examination of the relationship between careerism and organizational commitment, satisfaction, and performance ”, Personnel Review , Vol. 1 .

Jiang , L. and Lavaysse , L.M. ( 2018 ), “ Cognitive and affective job insecurity: a meta-analysis and a primary study ”, Journal of Management , Vol. 44 No. 6 , pp. 2307 - 2342 .

Karapinar , P.B. , Camgoz , S.M. and Ekmekci , O.T. ( 2019 ), “ Employee well-being, workaholism, work–family conflict and instrumental spousal support: a moderated mediation model ”, Journal of Happiness Studies , Vol. 1 , pp. 1 - 21 .

Karatepe , O.M. , Rezapouraghdam , H. and Hassannia , R. ( 2020 ), “ Job insecurity, work engagement and their effects on hotel employees’ non-green and nonattendance behaviors ”, International Journal of Hospitality Management , Vol. 87 , p. 102472 .

Kundi , M. , Ikramullah , M. , Iqbal , M.Z. and Ul-Hassan , F.S. ( 2018 ), “ Affective commitment as mechanism behind perceived career opportunity and turnover intentions with conditional effect of organizational prestige ”, Journal of Managerial Sciences , Vol. 1 .

Lee , Y. ( 2019 ), “ JD-R model on psychological wellbeing and the moderating effect of job discrimination in the model: findings from the MIDUS ”, European Journal of Training and Development , Vol. 43 No. 3/4 , pp. 232 - 249 .

Little , T.D. , Cunningham , W.A. , Shahar , G. and Widaman , K.F. ( 2002 ), “ To parcel or not to parcel: exploring the question, weighing the merits ”, Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal , Vol. 9 No. 2 , pp. 151 - 173 .

Luu , T.T. ( 2019 ), “ Discretionary HR practices and employee well-being: the roles of job crafting and abusive supervision ”, Personnel Review , Vol. 49 No. 1 , pp. 43 - 66 .

Ma , B. , Liu , S. , Lassleben , H. and Ma , G. ( 2019 ), “ The relationships between job insecurity, psychological contract breach and counterproductive workplace behavior: does employment status matter? ”, Personnel Review , Vol. 48 No. 2 , pp. 595 - 610 .

Magnier-Watanabe , R. , Uchida , T. , Orsini , P. and Benton , C. ( 2017 ), “ Organizational virtuousness and job performance in Japan: does happiness matter? ”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 25 No. 4 , pp. 628 - 646 .

Meyer , J.P. and Herscovitch , L. ( 2001 ), “ Commitment in the workplace: toward a general model ”, Human Resource Management Review , Vol. 11 No. 3 , pp. 299 - 326 .

Meyer , J.P. , Allen , N.J. and Smith , C.A. ( 1993 ), “ Commitment to organizations and occupations: extension and test of a three-component conceptualization ”, Journal of Applied Psychology , Vol. 78 No. 4 , pp. 538 - 551 .

Mousa , M. , Massoud , H.K. and Ayoubi , R.M. ( 2020 ), “ Gender, diversity management perceptions, workplace happiness and organisational citizenship behaviour ”, Employee Relations: The International Journal , Vol. 1 .

Pan , S.-L. , Wu , H. , Morrison , A. , Huang , M.-T. and Huang , W.-S. ( 2018 ), “ The relationships among leisure involvement, organizational commitment and well-being: viewpoints from sport fans in Asia ”, Sustainability , Vol. 10 No. 3 , p. 740 .

Paul , H. , Bamel , U. , Ashta , A. and Stokes , P. ( 2019 ), “ Examining an integrative model of resilience, subjective well-being and commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship behaviours ”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 27 No. 5 , pp. 1274 - 1297 .

Piccoli , B. , Callea , A. , Urbini , F. , Chirumbolo , A. , Ingusci , E. and De Witte , H. ( 2017 ), “ Job insecurity and performance: the mediating role of organizational identification ”, Personnel Review , Vol. 46 No. 8 , pp. 1508 - 1522 .

Podsakoff , P.M. , MacKenzie , S.B. and Podsakoff , N.P. ( 2012 ), “ Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it ”, Annual Review of Psychology , Vol. 63 No. 1 , pp. 539 - 569 .

Qian , S. , Yuan , Q. , Niu , W. and Liu , Z. ( 2019 ), “ Is job insecurity always bad? The moderating role of job embeddedness in the relationship between job insecurity and job performance ”, Journal of Management and Organization , Vol. 1 , pp. 1 - 17 .

Rahmani , K. , Gnoth , J. and Mather , D. ( 2018 ), “ Hedonic and eudaimonic well-being: a psycholinguistic view ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 69 , pp. 155 - 166 .

Ryan , R.M. and Deci , E.L. ( 2000 ), “ Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being ”, American Psychologist , Vol. 55 No. 1 , pp. 68 - 78 .

Ryff , C.D. ( 2018 ), “ Eudaimonic well-being: highlights from 25 years of inquiry ”, in Shigemasu , K. , Kuwano , S. , Sato , T. and Matsuzawa , T. (Eds),  Diversity in Harmony – Inghts from Psychology: Proceedings of the 31st International Congress of Psychology , John Wiley & Sons , pp. 375 - 395 .

Salgado , J.F. , Blanco , S. and Moscoso , S. ( 2019 ), “ Subjective well-being and job performance: Testing of a suppressor effect ”, Revista de Psicología Del Trabajo y de Las Organizaciones , Vol. 35 No. 2 , pp. 93 - 102 .

Sarwar , F. , Panatik , S.A. and Jameel , H.T. ( 2020 ), “ Does fear of terrorism influence psychological adjustment of academic sojourners in Pakistan? Role of state negative affect and emotional support ”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations , Vol. 75 , pp. 34 - 47 .

Schaumberg , R.L. and Flynn , F.J. ( 2017 ), “ Clarifying the link between job satisfaction and absenteeism: the role of guilt proneness ”, Journal of Applied Psychology , Vol. 102 No. 6 , p. 982 .

Schoemmel , K. and Jønsson , T.S. ( 2014 ), “ Multiple affective commitments: quitting intentions and job performance ”, Employee Relations , Vol. 36 No. 5 , pp. 516 - 534 .

Schumacher , D. , Schreurs , B. , Van Emmerik , H. and De Witte , H. ( 2016 ), “ Explaining the relation between job insecurity and employee outcomes during organizational change: a multiple group comparison ”, Human Resource Management , Vol. 55 No. 5 , pp. 809 - 827 .

Semedo , A.S. , Coelho , A. and Ribeiro , N. ( 2019 ), “ Authentic leadership, happiness at work and affective commitment: an empirical study in Cape Verde ”, European Business Review , Vol. 31 No. 3 , pp. 337 - 351 .

Sharma , S. , Conduit , J. and Rao Hill , S. ( 2017 ), “ Hedonic and eudaimonic well-being outcomes from co-creation roles: a study of vulnerable customers ”, Journal of Services Marketing , Vol. 31 Nos 4/5 , pp. 397 - 411 .

Sharma , P. , Kong , T.T.C. and Kingshott , R.P.J. ( 2016 ), “ Internal service quality as a driver of employee satisfaction, commitment and performance: exploring the focal role of employee well-being ”, Journal of Service Management , Vol. 27 No. 5 , pp. 773 - 797 .

Sheldon , K.M. , Corcoran , M. and Prentice , M. ( 2018 ), “ Pursuing eudaimonic functioning versus pursuing hedonic well-being: the first goal succeeds in its aim, whereas the second does not ”, Journal of Happiness Studies , Vol. 20 No. 3 , pp. 1 - 15 .

Shin , D. and Konrad , A.M. ( 2017 ), “ Causality between high-performance work systems and organizational performance ”, Journal of Management , Vol. 43 No. 4 , pp. 973 - 997 .

Shoss , M.K. ( 2017 ), “ Job insecurity: an integrative review and agenda for future research ”, Journal of Management , Vol. 43 No. 6 , pp. 1911 - 1939 .

Soomro , S.A. , Kundi , Y.M. and Kamran , M. ( 2020 ), “ Antecedents of workplace deviance: role of job insecurity, work stress, and ethical work climate ”, Problemy Zarzadzania , Vol. 17 No. 6 .

Staw , B.M. and Barsade , S.G. ( 1993 ), “ Affect and managerial perfornnance: a test of the sadder-but-Wiser hypotheses ”, Administrative Science Quarterly , Vol. 38 No. 2 , pp. 304 - 331 .

Thoresen , C.J. , Kaplan , S.A. , Barsky , A.P. , Warren , C.R. and de Chermont , K. ( 2003 ), “ The affective underpinnings of job perceptions and attitudes ”, Psychological Bulletin , Vol. 129 No. 6 , pp. 914 - 945 .

Tisu , L. , Lupșa , D. , Vîrgă , D. and Rusu , A. ( 2020 ), “ Personality characteristics, job performance and mental health the mediating role of work engagement ”, Personality and Individual Differences , Vol. 153 .

Turban , D.B. and Yan , W. ( 2016 ), “ Relationship of eudaimonia and hedonia with work outcomes ”, Journal of Managerial Psychology , Vol. 31 No. 6 , pp. 1006 - 1020 .

Viswesvaran , C. and Ones , D.S. ( 2017 ), “ Job performance: assessment issues in personnel selection ”, The Blackwell Handbook of Personnel Selection , Blackwell London , pp. 354 - 375 .

Wang , J. and Wang , X. ( 2019 ), Structural Equation Modeling: Applications Using Mplus , John Wiley and Sons New York, NY .

Wang , W. , Mather , K. and Seifert , R. ( 2018 ), “ Job insecurity, employee anxiety, and commitment: the moderating role of collective trust in management ”, Journal of Trust Research , Vol. 8 No. 2 , pp. 220 - 237 .

Waterman , A.S. ( 1993 ), “ Two conceptions of happiness: contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment ”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , Vol. 64 No. 4 , p. 678 .

Waterman , A.S. , Schwartz , S.J. , Zamboanga , B.L. , Ravert , R.D. , Williams , M.K. , Bede Agocha , V. and Yeong Kim , S. ( 2010 ), “ The questionnaire for eudaimonic well-being: psychometric properties, demographic comparisons, and evidence of validity ”, The Journal of Positive Psychology , Vol. 5 No. 1 , pp. 41 - 61 .

Williams , L.J. and Anderson , S.E. ( 1991 ), “ Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors ”, Journal of Management , Vol. 17 No. 3 , pp. 601 - 617 .

Williams , L.J. and O’Boyle , E.H. Jr ( 2008 ), “ Measurement models for linking latent variables and indicators: a review of human resource management research using parcels ”, Human Resource Management Review , Vol. 18 No. 4 , pp. 233 - 242 .

Further reading

Sabella , A.R. , El-Far , M.T. and Eid , N.L. ( 2016 ), “ The effects of organizational and job characteristics on employees' organizational commitment in arts-and-culture organizations ”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 24 No. 5 , pp. 1002 - 1024 .

Acknowledgements

Funding and Support statement : The authors did not receive any external funding or additional support from third parties for this work.

Corresponding author

Related articles, we’re listening — tell us what you think, something didn’t work….

Report bugs here

All feedback is valuable

Please share your general feedback

Join us on our journey

Platform update page.

Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

Questions & More Information

Answers to the most commonly asked questions here

•   [email protected]

Psychology Research Guide

I/o industrial or organizational psychology.

I/O, Industrial, Organizational or Industrial-Organizational Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior in organizations and work situations. I/O Psychologists study individual, group, and organizational behavior and use this knowledge to improve workplace problems. Before you explore the database below to find evidence for your project, you may find it helpful to learn more about this area of psychology. The following resources can help you narrow your topic, learn about the language used to describe psychology topics, and get you up to speed on the major advancements in this field.

• Potential Topics: APA Spotlight Articles I/O Psychology This link opens in a new window
• Learn more about Industrial and Organizational Psychology on the American Psychological Association's website

I/O Psychology Databases

Research in I/O psychology utilizes core psychology resources, as well as resources in business, human resources, and sociology. You may find it helpful to search the following databases for your I/o topics or research questions, in addition to the core resources listed on the home page.

I/O Psychology Subject Headings

You may find it helpful to take advantage of predefined subjects or subject headings in Shapiro Databases. These subjects are applied to articles and books by expert catalogers to help you find materials on your topic.

• Learn more about Subject Searching

Consider using databases to perform subject searches, or incorporating words from applicable subjects into your keyword searches. Here are some I/O subjects to consider:

• Industrial & Organizational Psychology
• Management & Management Training
• Occupational Interests & Guidance
• Organizational Behavior
• Personnel Attitudes & Job Satisfaction
• Personnel Evaluation & Job Performance
• Personnel Management & Selection & Training
• Professional Education & Training
• Working Conditions & Industrial Safety

I/O Example Search

Not sure what you want to research exactly, but want to get a feel for the resources available? Try the following search in any of the databases listed above:

(Industrial OR Organizational OR I/O) AND Psych*

There isn't just one accepted word for this area of psychology, so we use OR boolean operators to tell the database any of the listed terms are relevant to our search. We use parenthesis to organize our search, and we stem or truncate the word psychology with the asterisk to tell the database that any ending of the word, as long as the letters psych are at the beginning of the word, will do. This way, the word psychological and other related terms will also be included.

• Learn more about Boolean Operators/Boolean Searching

I/O Psychology Organization Websites

• Alliance for Organizational Psychology This link opens in a new window Founded in 1991, EAWOP is an open network of I/O psychology groups. Their website includes publications and resources.
• Harvard Business Review Blog - Psychology This link opens in a new window Current articles from the HBR Blog on psychology in business.
• Occupational Information Network (O*NET) This link opens in a new window O*NET is a regularly updated database of occupational characteristics and worker requirements information across the U.S. economy. It describes occupations in terms of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required as well as how the work is performed in terms of tasks, work activities, and other descriptors. It is made available by the United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration.
• Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP) This link opens in a new window Membership organization for I-O psychologists. SIOP is a division of the American Psychological Association and an organizational affiliate of the Association for Psychological Science.
• SIOP-SHRM White Papers The SHRM-SIOP Science of HR white paper series provides practitioner-oriented reviews of evidence-based HR practices written by leading researchers and practitioners in the field of I-O psychology and HR.
• << Previous: Forensic Psychology
• Next: Mental Health >>

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

6.2 Topics in Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Topics in Industrial and Organizational Psychology 1 2

Work occupies a central part of people’s lives around the world. For example, full-time workers in the U.S. work an average of 8.5 hours/day, spending more time working than performing any other life activity except for sleep (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). Work experiences exert a heavy effect on people’s life satisfaction (Erdogan, Bauer, Truxillo, & Mansfield, 2012), and career goals are a central concern of many young adults (e.g., Rogers, Creed, & Glendon, 2008). Indeed, most readers of this chapter are likely in college as a step toward achieving a hoped-for career!

However, the world of work is changing in many ways that present new questions and challenges for workers. For example, advances in technology, including automation, are disrupting major industries and changing or eliminating many jobs (Susskind & Susskind, 2016). Employers are increasingly experimenting with alternative work arrangements, like contract workers in “gig” jobs (e.g., driving for Uber or Lyft), rather than offering full-time work with job security and stable benefits (Friedman, 2014). Despite progress, women, racial and ethnic minorities, religious minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities still struggle to be accepted and successful in many workplaces (Myors et al., 2008). And, around the world, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers continue to search for decent work opportunities that can fulfill their basic needs (Moyce & Schenker, 2018).

Against this backdrop, industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology has an important role to play in improving organizations and promoting the well-being of workers. This chapter first presents a brief overview of I-O and what work in this field entails, and then reviews a series of major areas of research and practice within each half of the field.

I-O psychology is the scientific study of working and the application of psychological principles to workplace issues facing individuals, teams, and organizations. I-O psychologists apply the scientific method to investigate issues of critical relevance to individuals, businesses, and society. As a consequence, I-O psychologists are trained as scientist-practitioners with the ability to both conduct rigorous research and engage in the practical application of scientific knowledge alongside business people.

There are roughly 500 graduate programs in the U.S. that grant master’s and doctoral degrees in I-O psychology. Unlike many areas of psychology that require a doctoral degree practice, a terminal master’s degree is sufficient to pursue many excellent work opportunities in I-O psychology (Michalski, 2017). Moreover, the Department of Labor projects increased demand for I-O psychology into the mid-2020s. Much more information about graduate training and work opportunities is available on the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) website; SIOP is the primary professional body for the field.

Figure 1. SIOP, Division 14 of the American Psychological Association, has over 9,000 members as of January 2018.

Photo source: SIOP, used with permission.

Industrial Psychology

As the name “industrial-organizational” suggests, I-O psychology has often been viewed as a field with two distinct, though related, components. The industrial half of I-O Psychology, which is sometimes referred to as personnel psychology , focuses on the analysis of jobs; recruitment, selection, and training of employees; and evaluation of performance in the workplace. Industrial psychology is a close partner of human resource (HR) management in organizations, with industrial psychologists supplying the technical and legal expertise to create and evaluate the personnel systems that HR managers use on a daily basis. To this end, the major areas of research and practice that fall within industrial psychology include job analysis, recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, and training.

Job Analysis

Before we can hire people, before we can assess their performance, before we can decide on their salaries, before we can train them – before we can do virtually anything to affect a job, we must first understand what a job consists of. What tasks does it include? What skills does the job require? Where does the job fit within the organization? Job analysis helps I-O psychologists answer these questions (Sanchez & Levine, 2012). Because of its importance for making further decisions about jobs, many I-O psychologists begin their consulting work with a job analysis.

Generally speaking, a job analysis can fall into one of two categories: work-oriented or worker-oriented (Brannick, Levine, Morgeson, & Brannick, 2007). Work-oriented job analysis focuses on the job itself, and involves developing a list of tasks that the job involves. For example, a retail store sales clerk might assist customers in finding merchandise, answer customer questions, use a cash register to take money and make change, bag the merchandise, and thank the customer, among other responsibilities.  If we put this all together, it produces a job description that we can later use to identify training needs and the valuable behaviors that we should reward.

On the other hand, worker-oriented job analysis focuses on identifying the qualities needed by an employee to successfully perform the job in question. Traditionally, I-O psychologists have tried to identify several key characteristics of employees, including their knowledge (things they know), their skills (such as skill at persuading others), and their abilities (more stable traits they possess, like mathematical ability), often referred to as the “KSAs” required to perform the job. Returning to the example of our retail sales clerk, we might find that they need to be friendly, detail-oriented, reliable, and have the ability to learn about the merchandise the store has in stock. This information is crucial to developing a selection system that identifies job applicants with the right qualifications to be successful.

The process of completing a work- or worker-oriented job analysis procedure is actually quite similar. In each case, I-O consultants typically interview current employees and supervisors, or ask them to complete surveys, to gather information about the job. The consultants then use this information to write the task or KSA statements that describe the job.

Recruitment, Selection, & Placement

Once I-O psychologists understand what a job entails, and the requirements that are necessary to do the job, they can use this information to assist an organization in a wide variety of ways. Generally, this information will be used to aid the hiring process in an organization–quality job analysis information can help with this process in a variety of ways.

The hiring process actually begins with recruitment—before people can be hired into an organization, they must first apply for an open position. Recruitment refers to the process of attracting people to submit applications for open positions within an organization. Today, recruitment often takes advantage of technology, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and internet job boards like Indeed.com and Monster.com. In their attempts to recruit people to apply for a job opening, organizations will typically describe the requirements of the position, including educational requirements, and the main tasks and responsibilities associated with the position. Organizations may also attempt to describe aspects of the culture of the organization, such as the feel of the work environment, or the values or mission of the company. An organization that describes itself as “fast-paced” or “competitive” is likely to attract rather different applicants than an organization that advertises “teamwork” and “cooperation.”

Once an organization has recruited an applicant pool, the organization must decide how to assess the applicants, and the formal hiring process begins. The process used to evaluate job candidates and decide which ones to hire is typically referred to as personnel selection .  Personnel selection is one of the oldest topics in I-O psychology, dating back to the very roots of the field at the start of the 20 th century (Farr & Tippins, 2010; Ployhart, Schmitt, & Tippins, 2017). Selection usually involves administering a series of instruments, such as tests or interviews, to job applicants; the instruments are often scored and combined with other information, such as letters of recommendation, to help employers select the best applicant(s). The selection instruments an organization uses are commonly referred to as predictors , and helping organizations develop effective predictors are one of the most common roles that I-O consultants engage in. Common predictors that I-O psychologists help develop include tests of various qualities (such as intelligence, personality and other traits), and interviews (Cascio & Aguinis, 2011).  Determining the right combination of predictors to give applicants for a given job is a central topic for consultants that assist with personnel selection, and involves the consideration of many factors, including cost, time, legality, validity, reliability, practicality, and acceptance in the business world. Selection often occurs in multiple stages. During the initial stage, it is common for applicants to participate in some initial screening assessments to “weed out” unqualified applicants.  Following this, subsequent stages in the selection process attempt to select the optimal candidate from the qualified applicants that remain after screening.

What predictors do the best job of helping organizations choose qualified applicants? One of the most consistent findings in I-O psychology, based on decades of research, is that general mental ability , or intelligence, is the single most effective predictor of job performance in nearly all jobs, and especially complex jobs (Schmidt & Hunter, 2004). One of the reasons this is the case is that general mental ability helps predict a person’s ability to learn new information and skills, a critical component of success in virtually any job.

Beyond general mental ability tests, many other predictors have been found to be effective for predicting employee success as well. Personality tests , such as those measuring the Big 5 traits, have also been found to successfully predict which applicants will make effective employees. In particular, the Big 5 trait conscientiousness has been found to predict performance in a wide variety of jobs. This is not surprising, given that people high in this trait are typically hard-working, reliable, and organized, all traits that should lead to success in most jobs (Barrick, Mount, & Judge, 2001). Additional predictors, such as simulations and work samples, can be used to successfully assess a person’s ability to handle actual job-related tasks in realistic settings (Scott & Reynolds, 2010).

What about interviews? Interviews have long been used by organizations to help make hiring decisions, and they remain one of the most commonly-used predictors in organizations today (Posthuma, Morgeson, & Campion, 2002). Interviews can be written to evaluate a variety of applicant characteristics and qualifications (Landy & Conte, 2010). Research on the effectiveness of interviews is mixed. Most interviews used in organizations tend to be fairly flexible conversations, where the interviewer is free to ask an applicant a wide variety of different questions. Each applicant may be asked different questions, and the questions may not be directly related to the job the applicant is applying for. These interviews are typically known as unstructured interviews , and, despite their prevalence, they are not very effective predictors for evaluating applicants. One reason for this is that the information gained from one applicant’s interview might be quite different from the information gained from another applicant’s interview, thus making it difficult to compare “apples to apples.”

Fortunately, interviews can be improved by making the interview process more structured . Strategies for structuring an interview include deciding on a consistent list of questions that will be asked of all applicants, ensuring that the questions are related to the content of the job, and using a scoring system to evaluate applicants’ responses. Structured interviews that have these features are much more effective at predicting which applicants will be successful in a given job (Huffcutt, Conway, Roth, & Stone, 2001). I-O consultants often help organizations to design and implement structured interviews to improve the organization’s selection process. Unfortunately, many organizations continue to rely on traditional unstructured interviews, which are much more prone to errors and subjective evaluations of job applicants. This divide between the predictors that I-O psychologists know are effective, and the predictors that many organizations utilize, remains an important concern for many I-O psychologists today.

Evaluating and Managing Worker Performance

Once employees are hired and placed into their roles in an organization, it is typically necessary to assess their performance to see how well they are performing in their new role. Evaluating how well employees perform their jobs, and documenting this performance, is important for a variety of reasons. Certainly, performance information is often used to make decisions about whether and when to promote, train, re-assign, or terminate employees; it can also be used for decisions about compensation, bonuses, and other rewards. If an employee’s performance is lacking, the gap between how he or she is performing, compared to the ideal, might be addressed by training (or re-training) the needed knowledge, skills, or abilities. Performance appraisal can also be used to give employees feedback, and help employees learn about their strengths and weaknesses–thus, another goal of performance appraisal is general employee development.

Performance appraisals are often conducted on a recurring schedule—once or twice a year is common. The review itself is typically structured around the employee’s primary tasks and responsibilities, such that the supervisor provides a summary of the employee and their performance. The appraisal will often involve making ratings on numeric scales corresponding with specific aspects of performance, as well as comments and/or illustrative critical incidents to communicate to the employee how well they are performing on each aspect of the job. Critical incidents are specific behaviors the employee has engaged in—they are used to illustrate good or bad performance and often supplement numeric performance ratings. Feedback and critical incidents from other coworkers may be gathered by the supervisor with the goal of basing the performance appraisal on complete information.

One variant of performance appraisal that has become popular in recent years is 360-degree appraisal, which seeks to gather feedback from multiple sources that the person being evaluated interacts with, such as subordinates, peers, supervisors, clients/customers, and others.  Self-appraisal, provided by the employee him- or herself, may also be included. The goal of this process is to provide employees with a more well-rounded sense of how they’re performing.

Numeric performance ratings are a common part of a performance appraisal.  For example, an employee may be rated on dependability on a scale of one to five, with anchors ranging from unacceptable (1), to average (3), to superior (5). Employees are often rated in the context of how other members of their team or work group are performing. Other rating approaches involve making direct comparisons between employees within a unit, such as ranking all employees, or comparing them two at a time and deciding which of the two is the superior performer. When using any numeric rating method, organizations need to be aware of the biases that raters may unknowingly exhibit. One risk is that all raters will not use a rating scale the same way—for instance, some might provide more generous, or harsher, ratings regardless of how the employee is performing. Such errors can lead to biases in the appraisal process, and impact the fairness of a performance appraisal system; fortunately, rater training can help avoid some of these issues.

What kinds of employee performance are typically assessed in organizations? In many cases, the answer to this question is determined by the type of organization the employee works in—effective performance for an employee who makes electric motors in a factory is likely to be very different from an employee who creates apps for your phone. For legal reasons, it is important for an organization to avoid assessing people based on irrelevant characteristics, such as their age, gender, or race. Here again, I-O consultants often help organizations design performance appraisal systems that focus on core aspects of job performance, and avoid evaluating irrelevant characteristics. For many jobs, the main focus of performance appraisal is on task performance —that is, how effectively an employee performs the key requirements of their job. However, many organizations are also concerned with additional behaviors that employees may engage in outside of their job responsibilities. These “extra” behaviors can be positive or negative in nature. Positive behaviors are typically referred to as organizational citizenship behaviors , or OCBs, and may include actions such as bringing donuts or bagels to an early morning meeting, staying late to assist a coworker with a project, or speaking positively about the organization to outsiders. Negative behaviors, often called counterproductive work behaviors , or CWBs, range from fairly minor actions, such as being rude to a coworker from time to time, to more serious, criminal activities such as theft, sabotage, or arson. As you would expect, employees who enjoy their work are more likely to engage in OCBs, while dissatisfied employees are likely to engage in CWBs. Thus, if organizations want to promote OCBs, and prevent CWBs, it is important for them to consider their employees’ thoughts and feelings about their workplace.

Training & Development

Over time, it often becomes necessary for employees to learn new knowledge or skills, to enhance their job performance and keep pace with changes in their occupation. I-O psychology intersects with cognitive psychology and learning theories in the domain of training and development , which focuses on increasing employees’ knowledge, skills, and abilities. Like many other organizational processes, training is, in part, based on job/task/work analysis to determine the elements of a job that a person requires training to do. The training process often begins with a training needs analysis, which is an analysis of the organization, tasks, and person that results in objectives for training (Arthur, Bennett, Edens, & Bell, 2003). Principles of learning and cognition serve as the basis for designing training and development interventions. Basic principles about memory, perception, judgment, and learning include cognitive biases, primacy and recency, interferences, decision-making, and developments. These are relevant to determining how best to convey information about how and when to engage in various work behaviors, and how to assess how well training has accomplished its goals.

What topics do organizations commonly use training for? Some training is motivated by legal considerations, such as diversity and sexual harassment training. With diversity training, employees are typically educated on the benefits of diversity, and provided with suggestions for acting with sensitivity in a diverse workplace. Sexual harassment and discrimination, which are typically prohibited both by law and organizational policies, can also be addressed via training. Employees may be educated on key terms and ideas related to harassment, practice identifying situations in which harassment may occur, and discuss appropriate courses of action for reporting and preventing harassment.

Other types of training are prompted when employers require employees to possess a particular area of knowledge, skill, or ability to meet organizational needs. If an organization wants to avoid training, they may look to hire employees that already have those KSAs that they desire (a selection approach). Alternatively, they may use help current employees develop those KSAs (a training approach). The decision between these approaches is driven by several considerations, including cost, timing, other available resources, and staffing goals. For example, for employers do not wish to increase the size of their workforce, training may be a more attractive option. In addition, the expected trainability of a knowledge, skill, or ability and skill level of current personnel might be taken into account. Consider the likelihood of successfully teaching someone a specific skill, such as typing, using a cash register, or engaging in successful customer service interactions, compared to the more difficult challenge of improving a person’s mathematical abilities or extraversion.

In organizations today, training can occur in a wide variety of formats. Training often occurs with a face-to-face instructor , but many organizations today are relying on remote or distance training, mediated by communication technology, and self-paced training. In addition, employers are generally motivated to understand whether their resources devoted to training are achieving key training objectives. Consequently, many employee trainings are followed, either immediately or after a delay, with some form of evaluation. Some evaluations focus on how much of the training content was understood and retained by the trainee, while others focus on how well that information transfers to on-the-job behaviors, how well the trainee feels about the training process, and what the outcomes for the organization are (Kirkpatrick, 1959). For the individual, training can be considered in terms of impact on career development and advancement in the organization.

Organizational Psychology

The organizational half of I-O Psychology is broadly concerned with the social and psychological context of the workplace. Organizational psychology focuses on many different levels of workplace phenomena, including micro, within-person experiences, like attitudes and emotions; meso, small group dynamics like teamwork and interpersonal discrimination; and macro, organization-wide factors, such as leadership and organizational culture. Overall, organizational psychology helps us understand the experience and consequences of working life in modern organizations. Major areas of study within organizational psychology include employee attitudes, worker health and safety, motivation, and teamwork and leadership.

Employee Attitudes

I-O psychologists are often concerned with the attitudes employees hold about their work.  Several attitudes have been the focus of extensive research over the past several decades, and the importance of employee attitudes has been demonstrated by their ability to predict whether employees will exert less effort at work, engage in CWBs, or even leave the organization altogether.

Job satisfaction , which refers to an employee’s overall evaluation of their job, is the most fundamental attitude studied in I-O psychology (Judge & Klinger, 2007).  When a worker has positive feelings and thoughts about his or her job, positive outcome are likely. These outcomes include performing their job at a high level, feeling motivated, and being inclined to do extrarole behaviors that are helpful but aren’t explicitly required as part of the job. Job satisfaction is often measured using scales, which include questions with a range of numeric response options with either images or phrases as anchors (e.g., 1 = very dissatisfied to 5 = very satisfied). While job satisfaction can be measured using a single question, a more nuanced understanding of satisfaction can be achieved using multi-item scales that ask the respondent about various aspects of a job (e.g., pay, autonomy, coworkers). Measuring satisfaction in this way can help I-O consultants get a more detailed understanding of which aspects of their jobs employees like and dislike the most.

Another attitude important for understanding work behavior is organizational commitment , or an individual’s psychological attachment to an organization (Meyer & Allen, 1991).  Researchers studying the nature of organizational commitment have identified three types of commitment. Affective commitment reflects an emotional connection an employee may feel with their organization. Employees with high affective commitment may feel as though they are a “part of a family” with their organization. Continuance commitment reflects commitment that is based on a lack of available alternative employment options. Employees with high continuance commitment may stay at their current job because of poor job prospects in their area, or because they lack necessary education or training to make themselves competitive for other job opportunities. Finally, normative commitment is driven by employees’ sense of obligation to their organization. For instance, if a company gives an employee their first job after graduating from college, or has invested resources in an employee in the form or training or development, the employee may feel obligated to stay with the organization to “pay back” these investments. Overall, strong ties have been found between organizational commitment and turnover, or leaving one’s organization.

Employees’ attitudes about an organization may also be based on how fairly they feel they are treated.   Organizational justice theory suggests that employees pay attention to the fairness of how they’re treated in several ways.  The various types and subtypes of justice focus on how outcomes or results are distributed across employees, the fairness of organizational procedures or decision rules, and the nature of interactions among organizational members.  For example, an employee may feel that the process of performance appraisal is fair (procedural justice), but that it did not result in a sufficient pay raise (distributive justice).

What can an organization do to improve their employees’ attitudes? Unfortunately, psychological research on attitudes in general suggests that attitude change is often quite difficult. A basic principle of attitudes is that once an attitude or belief is held, it serves as an anchor around which new information is judged. Thus, once an employee begins to evaluate their workplace negatively, they may seek out and focus on additional information that supports this attitude.

Worker Health & Safety

Occupational health is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the health and safety of people at work, and has become the subject of much research in I-O psychology. Jobs place a variety of demands on workers, and these demands can lead to the experience of stress, which may be followed by various negative outcomes such as effects on the physical and mental health of employees (Beehr, 1995; Jex, 1998; Tetrick & Quick, 2011). Occupational health research examines internal and external sources of occupational stress, as well as ways to decrease worker stress and methods for preventing stress. Evidence suggests that organizations should be concerned with occupational health, as consistent exposure to stressful working conditions can impact not only employees, but also organizational effectiveness: studies have estimated that billions of dollars are lost from the U.S. economy due to occupational stress, based on the assumption that stress plays a role in negative outcomes such as increased medical, legal, and insurance costs, higher rates of absenteeism and turnover, diminished productivity, and increased occupational accidents (e.g., Goldin, 2004).

While I-O psychologists have contributed to the study of occupational stress, the occupational stress literature consists of important contributions from multiple perspectives, including medical (focusing on the contribution of stress in the workplace to employee health and illness), clinical/counseling (which focuses on the impact of stressful working conditions on mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression), engineering psychology (which focuses on stressors originating from the physical work environment), and organizational psychology . Organizational psychology focuses heavily on cognitive appraisal (the process by which employees perceive the work environment and decide whether it is stressful), as well on sources of stress that are social in nature (e.g., are sourced from interactions with others). Recently, these four approaches have joined into one field known as occupational health psychology (OHP; Barling & Griffiths, 2011). OHP is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on using psychological theories and methodology to enhance health, safety, and well-being for individuals and organizations.

Another focus within the field of OHP is employee safety, usually with regard to preventing accidents and injuries in the workplace. Research has examined workplace safety outcomes in relation with both situational factors in the work environment (e.g., physical hazards such as heat and noise; Jex, Swanson, & Grubb, 2013) and personal factors in the employee (e.g., personality traits; Clarke & Robertson, 2008). Most models of employee safety posit that certain factors influence the experience of accidents and injuries through an effect on the safety performance of the employee (i.e., employees being compliant with safety procedures and notifying others in the organization about safety concerns; Griffin & Neal, 2000). Most studies have found moderate to strong relationships between different types of safety performance and the experience of workplace accidents (Jiang, Yu, Li, & Li, 2010). Moreover, the safety climate of a work unit and/or organization is predictive of safety performance, which has been linked to workplace accidents (Zohar, 2011). Safety climate refers to whether the employees in a company share similar perceptions of policies and procedures regarding workplace safety, such as rules regarding the use of safety equipment. A recent review of the injury and accident prevalence literature suggested that thousands of American workers die each year from injuries sustained in the workplace; however, prevalence rates are far worse in countries that do not have government oversight of labor practices: over two million individuals worldwide die each year as a result of injuries suffered in the work environment (Kaplan & Tetrick, 2011). In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the government agency established to assure safe and healthful working conditions by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education, and assistance to US organizations. Most private employers are responsible for ensuring that OSHA standards are met, and employers concerned with worker health and well-being seek to maintain safe working conditions and offer channels for addressing issues as they arise.

Understanding employee motivation –the forces that direct employees’ behaviors at work–has a long history in I-O psychology. The study of motivation in I-O psychology can be traced back to studies by Hugo Munsterberg , who studied motivation issues for employees working at knitting mills (Landy & Conte, 2004). He saw that employees were working 12-hour days, and working 6 days a week.  With some modifications (i.e., having kittens play with balls of yarn on the factory floor), Munsterberg was able to influence the satisfaction and alertness of the employees.

Some of the basic motivational questions that I-O psychologists study include what needs elicit action for individuals, what traits impact the engagement of behaviors, and how the environment (space and individuals) influences the motivation and behaviors of people.  While the study of work motivation is continually evolving, there are several seminal theories that have informed our understanding of motivation.

One of the most well-supported theories of motivation in I-O psychology is goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990). This theory emphasizes that goals can influence employees in a variety of ways. For instance, goals can influence the direction of actions; Goals can also affect the effort that employees put forth to those actions; In addition to these benefits, goals can increase employee persistence, and motivate them to choose more effective strategies for attaining those goals. Goals that tend to provide the benefits just described tend to share some key characteristics. Specifically, goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) are typically more effective than goals that lack these qualities (Locke & Latham, 2002).

Despite the popularity of goal-setting theory, several other motivation theories have received attention, and research support, from I-O psychologists. Expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964) suggests that employees are unlikely to be motivated unless they can provide affirmative answers to three questions. The first question involves asking whether employee effort will lead to performance (instrumentality). If an employees feels that working hard will not result in success on the job, they are likely to have low motivation. If an employee decides that their effort will actually result in a sufficient level of performance, they must then evaluate whether their performance is likely to be rewarded or recognized in satisfactory ways (expectancy). In some workplaces, employees may feel that their strong performance goes unrecognized–if this pattern persists over time, they are likely to lose motivation. Finally, the third questions associated with expectancy theory concerns whether an employee values the rewards they are able to receive (valence). If an organization rewards its employees with public “employee of the month” ceremonies, but an employee would prefer a cash reward rather than public recognition, they may find their motivation limited.

The job characteristics theory (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) takes a rather different approach to motivation. This theory suggests that several key features of job themselves can also influence the motivation level of employees. For example, autonomy , or the freedom that employees have to choose how their work is done (or at least certain elements of it) typically has a positive effect on motivation. Doing work that allows employees to use a variety of different skills and abilities (task variety), and performing work that feels important to other peoples’ lives (task significance) can also generate higher levels of motivation. Finally, receiving feedback , such as from supervisors and peers, can improve motivation for many employees.

In many organizations today, work is often conducted in the context of a group or team. Teams are defined as two or more individuals who share one or more common goals, and interact to perform activities that are relevant to the organization. Teams are influenced by a wide variety of social dynamics. As an example, consider Susie who just graduated medical school and has started her intern year in a department that emphasizes teamwork. Her role in the interdisciplinary team is that of the physician, which she feels comfortable doing as she graduated with honors from her university. What she is concerned about is how to function effectively in the team. She personally likes to do things on her own, so she is uncertain how this part of her job will actually go, especially since she knows the intern year is a very stressful one and she knows that two of the other team members have reputations of being really difficult to work with.

Some of the concerns that Susie has are ones that I-O psychologists try to grapple with as consultants and researchers. Many topics that originated in social psychology are relevant to the study of teams. For instance, many people have a tendency to work with less intensity when they are in a group, compared to when they are by themselves, which social psychologists refer to as social loafing (see Latané, Williams, & Harkins, 1979). Managers can help avoid social loafing in their work groups by making sure that each employee knows what they are responsible for.

Management and Leadership

A natural sister topic of teams concerns the individuals tasked with facilitating teams— leaders . While there are many definitions of leadership, the common elements of the definitions are influence and guidance of others towards a goal. Over time, I-O psychologists have studied management and leadership from several different perspectives. In the 1920s and 1930s, early leadership research focused on the trait approach , which centers on the idea that leaders possess certain traits (e.g., ambition, dominance, extroversion, height) that non-leaders do not possess.  However, this approach did not prove to be productive, as research did not show consistent relationships among the traits. Undeterred, I-O psychologists re-focused their attempts to understand leadership by looking for specific behaviors that successful leaders might engage in. Fleishman and Harris (1962) defined leadership using two dimensions, consideration (concern for the individual’s needs) and initiating structure (organizes and defines activities). This approach proved to be more successful, and the legacy of this work can be seen in more modern research on transactional and transformational leadership (Bass, 1985).

I-O psychologists have a unique place as researchers and consultants when informing the greater population as to the practice of leadership. With changing workforce practices, such as the utilization of temporary workers, teleworking, virtual teams, increasing diversity in the workforce and other existing ambiguous boundaries that modern jobs hold, I-O psychologists are prepared to contribute to our understanding of leadership and how we best develop and coach the leaders of today and tomorrow.

A significant portion of I-O research focuses on management and human relations. Douglas McGregor (1960) combined scientific management (a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows with the main objective of improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity) and human relations into the notion of leadership behavior. His theory lays out two different styles called Theory X and Theory Y. In the  Theory X  approach to management, managers assume that most people dislike work and are not innately self-directed. Theory X managers perceive employees as people who prefer to be led and told which tasks to perform and when. Their employees have to be watched carefully to be sure that they work hard enough to fulfill the organization’s goals. Theory X workplaces will often have employees punch a clock when arriving and leaving the workplace: Tardiness is punished. Supervisors, not employees, determine whether an employee needs to stay late, and even this decision would require someone higher up in the command chain to approve the extra hours. Theory X supervisors will ignore employees’ suggestions for improved efficiency and reprimand employees for speaking out of order. These supervisors blame efficiency failures on individual employees rather than the systems or policies in place. Managerial goals are achieved through a system of punishments and threats rather than enticements and rewards. Managers are suspicious of employees’ motivations and always suspect selfish motivations for their behavior at work (e.g., being paid is their sole motivation for working).

In the  Theory Y  approach, on the other hand, managers assume that most people seek inner satisfaction and fulfillment from their work. Employees function better under leadership that allows them to participate in, and provide input about, setting their personal and work goals. In Theory Y workplaces, employees participate in decisions about prioritizing tasks; they may belong to teams that, once given a goal, decide themselves how it will be accomplished. In such a workplace, employees are able to provide input on matters of efficiency and safety. One example of Theroy Y in action is the policy of Toyota production lines that allows any employee to stop the entire line if a defect or other issue appears, so that the defect can be fixed and its cause remedied (Toyota Motor Manufacturing, 2013). A Theory Y workplace will also meaningfully consult employees on any changes to the work process or management system. In addition, the organization will encourage employees to contribute their own ideas. McGregor (1960) characterized Theory X as the traditional method of management used in the United States. He agued that a Theory Y approach was needed to improve organizational output and the wellbeing of individuals.  Table summarizes how these two management approaches differ.

Another management style was described by Donald Clifton, who focused his research on how an organization can best use an individual’s strengths, an approach he called strengths-based management . He and his colleagues interviewed 8,000 managers and concluded that it is important to focus on a person’s strengths, not their weaknesses. A strength is a particular enduring talent possessed by an individual that allows her to provide consistent, near-perfect performance in tasks involving that talent. Clifton argued that our strengths provide the greatest opportunity for growth (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001). An example of a strength is public speaking or the ability to plan a successful event. The strengths-based approach is very popular although its effect on organization performance is not well-studied. However, Kaiser & Overfield (2011) found that managers often neglected improving their weaknesses and overused their strengths, both of which interfered with performance.

Leadership is an important element of management. Leadership styles have been of major interest within I-O research, and researchers have proposed numerous theories of leadership. Bass (1985) popularized and developed the concepts of transactional leadership versus transformational leadership styles. In  transactional leadership , the focus is on supervision and organizational goals, which are achieved through a system of rewards and punishments (i.e., transactions). Transactional leaders maintain the status quo: They are managers. This is in contrast to the transformational leader. People who have  transformational leadership  possess four attributes to varying degrees: They are charismatic (highly liked role models), inspirational (optimistic about goal attainment), intellectually stimulating (encourage critical thinking and problem solving), and considerate (Bass, Avolio, & Atwater, 1996).

As women increasingly take on leadership roles in corporations, questions have arisen as to whether there are differences in leadership styles between men and women (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, & van Engen, 2003). Eagly & Johnson (1990) conducted a meta-analysis to examine gender and leadership style. They found, to a slight but significant degree, that women tend to practice an interpersonal style of leadership (i.e., she focuses on the morale and welfare of the employees) and men practice a task-oriented style (i.e., he focuses on accomplishing tasks). However, the differences were less pronounced when one looked only at organizational studies and excluded laboratory experiments or surveys that did not involve actual organizational leaders. Larger gender-related differences were observed when leadership style was categorized as democratic or autocratic, and these differences were consistent across all types of studies. The authors suggest that similarities between the genders in leadership styles are attributable to genders needing to conform the organization’s culture; additionally, they propose that gender-related differences reflect inherent differences in the strengths each gender brings to bear on leadership practice. In another meta-analysis of leadership style, Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, & van Engen (2003) found that women tended to exhibit the characteristics of transformational leaders, while men were more likely to be transactional leaders. However, the differences are not absolute; for example, women were found to use methods of reward for performance more often than men, which is a component of transactional leadership. The differences they found were relatively small. As Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, & van Engen (2003) point out, research shows that transformational leadership approaches are more effective than transactional approaches, although individual leaders typically exhibit elements of both approaches.

Work-Family Balance

Many people juggle the demands of work life with the demands of their home life, whether it be caring for children or taking care of an elderly parent; this is known as  work-family balance . We might commonly think about work interfering with family, but it is also the case that family responsibilities may conflict with work obligations (Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000). Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) first identified three sources of work–family conflicts:

• time devoted to work makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of family, or vice versa,
• strain from participation in work makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of family, or vice versa, and
• specific behaviors required by work make it difficult to fulfill the requirements of family, or vice versa.

Women often have greater responsibility for family demands, including home care, child care, and caring for aging parents, yet men in the United States are increasingly assuming a greater share of domestic responsibilities. However, research has documented that women report greater levels of stress from work–family conflict (Gyllensten & Palmer, 2005).

There are many ways to decrease work–family conflict and improve people’s job satisfaction (Posig & Kickul, 2004). These include support in the home, which can take various forms: emotional (listening), practical (help with chores). Workplace support can include understanding supervisors, flextime, leave with pay, and telecommuting. Flextime usually involves a requirement of core hours spent in the workplace around which the employee may schedule his arrival and departure from work to meet family demands.  Telecommuting  involves employees working at home and setting their own hours, which allows them to work during different parts of the day, and to spend part of the day with their family. Recall that Yahoo! had a policy of allowing employees to telecommute and then rescinded the policy. There are also organizations that have onsite daycare centers, and some companies even have onsite fitness centers and health clinics. In a study of the effectiveness of different coping methods, Lapierre & Allen (2006) found practical support from home more important than emotional support. They also found that immediate-supervisor support for a worker significantly reduced work–family conflict through such mechanisms as allowing an employee the flexibility needed to fulfill family obligations. In contrast, flextime did not help with coping and telecommuting actually made things worse, perhaps reflecting the fact that being at home intensifies the conflict between work and family because with the employee in the home, the demands of family are more evident.

Posig & Kickul (2004) identify exemplar corporations with policies designed to reduce work–family conflict. Examples include IBM’s policy of three years of job-guaranteed leave after the birth of a child, Lucent Technologies offer of one year’s childbirth leave at half pay, and SC Johnson’s program of concierge services for daytime errands.

Link to Learning:  Glassdoor  is a website that posts job satisfaction reviews for different careers and organizations. Use this site to research possible careers and/or organizations that interest you.

Organizational Culture

Each company and organization has an organizational culture.  Organizational culture  encompasses the values, visions, hierarchies, norms, and interactions among its employees. It is how an organization is run, how it operates, and how it makes decisions—the industry in which the organization participates may have an influence. Different departments within one company can develop their own subculture within the organization’s culture. Ostroff, Kinicki, and Tamkins (2003) identify three layers in organizational culture: observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions. Observable artifacts are the symbols, language (jargon, slang, and humor), narratives (stories and legends), and practices (rituals) that represent the underlying cultural assumptions. Espoused values are concepts or beliefs that the management or the entire organization endorses. They are the rules that allow employees to know which actions they should take in different situations and which information they should adhere to. These basic assumptions generally are unobservable and unquestioned. Researchers have developed survey instruments to measure organizational culture.

With the workforce being a global marketplace, your company may have a supplier in Korea and another in Honduras and have employees in the United States, China, and South Africa. You may have coworkers of different religious, ethnic, or racial backgrounds than yourself. Your coworkers may be from different places around the globe. Many workplaces offer diversity training to help everyone involved bridge and understand cultural differences.  Diversity training  educates participants about cultural differences with the goal of improving teamwork. There is always the potential for prejudice between members of two groups, but the evidence suggests that simply working together, particularly if the conditions of work are set carefully that such prejudice can be reduced or eliminated. Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) conducted a meta-analysis to examine the question of whether contact between groups reduced prejudice between those groups. They found that there was a moderate but significant effect. They also found that, as previously theorized, the effect was enhanced when the two groups met under conditions in which they have equal standing, common goals, cooperation between the groups, and especially support on the part of the institution or authorities for the contact.

One well-recognized negative aspect of organizational culture is a culture of  harassment , including sexual harassment. Most organizations of any size have developed sexual harassment policies that define sexual harassment (or harassment in general) and the procedures the organization has set in place to prevent and address it when it does occur. Thus, in most jobs you have held, you were probably made aware of the company’s sexual harassment policy and procedures, and may have received training related to the policy. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n.d.) provides the following description of  sexual harassment :

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. (par. 2)

One form of sexual harassment is called quid pro quo. Quid pro quo means you give something to get something, and it refers to a situation in which organizational rewards are offered in exchange for sexual favors. Quid pro quo harassment is often between an employee and a person with greater power in the organization. For example, a supervisor might request an action, such as a kiss or a touch, in exchange for a promotion, a positive performance review, or a pay raise. Another form of sexual harassment is the threat of withholding a reward if a sexual request is refused. Hostile environment sexual harassment is another type of workplace harassment. In this situation, an employee experiences conditions in the workplace that are considered hostile or intimidating. For example, a work environment that allows offensive language or jokes or displays sexually explicit images. Isolated occurrences of these events do not constitute harassment, but a pattern of repeated occurrences does. In addition to violating organizational policies against sexual harassment, these forms of harassment are illegal.

Harassment does not have to be sexual; it may be related to any of the protected classes in the statutes regulated by the EEOC: race, national origin, religion, or age.

Violence in the Workplace

In the summer of August 1986, a part-time postal worker with a troubled work history walked into the Edmond, Oklahoma, post office and shot and killed 15 people, including himself. From his action, the term “going postal” was coined, describing a troubled employee who engages in extreme violence.

Workplace violence is one aspect of workplace safety that I-O psychologists study.  Workplace violence  is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening, disruptive behavior that occurs at the workplace. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide (Occupational Safety & Health Administration, 2014).

There are different targets of workplace violence: a person could commit violence against coworkers, supervisors, or property. Warning signs often precede such actions: intimidating behavior, threats, sabotaging equipment, or radical changes in a coworker’s behavior. Often there is intimidation and then escalation that leads to even further escalation. It is important for employees to involve their immediate supervisor if they ever feel intimidated or unsafe.

Murder is the second leading cause of death in the workplace. It is also the primary cause of death for women in the workplace. Every year there are nearly two million workers who are physically assaulted or threatened with assault. Many are murdered in domestic violence situations by boyfriends or husbands who chose the woman’s workplace to commit their crimes.

There are many risk factors for workplace violence that can be committed by leaders, employees, and even customers. A significant risk factor is the feeling of being treated unfairly, unjustly, or disrespectfully, and may become more serious when combined with other individual factors like personality and history, environmental stressors, and lack of community. In a research experiment, Greenberg (1993) examined the reactions of students who were given pay for a task. In one group, the students were given extensive explanations for the pay rate. In the second group, the students were given a curt uninformative explanation. The students were made to believe the supervisor would not know how much money the student withdrew for payment. The rate of stealing (taking more pay than they were told they deserved) was higher in the group who had been given the limited explanation. This is a demonstration of the importance of procedural justice in organizations. Procedural justice  refers to the fairness of the processes by which outcomes are determined in conflicts with or among employees.

In another study by Greenberg & Barling (1999), they found a history of aggression and amount of alcohol consumed to be accurate predictors of workplace violence against a coworker. Aggression against a supervisor was predicted if a worker felt unfairly treated or untrusted. Job security and alcohol consumption predicted aggression against a subordinate. To understand and predict workplace violence, Greenberg & Barling (1999) emphasize the importance of considering the employee target of aggression or violence and characteristics of both the workplace characteristics and the aggressive or violent person.

As you can see, I-O psychologists are concerned with a wide variety of topics related to the performance and well-being of both employees and their organizations. Some topics, such as recruitment, selection, and performance appraisal, have been important from the start, while others, such as worker attitudes, stress, and motivation, have increased in importance in recent years. Today, while it is still possible to make a distinction between “I” and “O” topics within this field, there is greater recognition that these areas represent two sides of the same coin, and that both sides can have a substantial influence on one another. As work continues to become more complex and subject to global and technological pressures, I-O psychologists will become increasingly important for helping both workers and organizations weather these changes.

Arthur Jr, W., Bennett Jr, W., Edens, P. S., & Bell, S. T. (2003). Effectiveness of training in organizations: A meta-analysis of design and evaluation features. Journal of Applied psychology, 88 , 234-245.

Barling, J., & Griffiths, A. (2011). A history of occupational health psychology. In J. C. Quick & L.E. Tetrick (Eds.), Handbook of occupational health psychology (2nd ed., pp. 21–34). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K., & Judge, T. A. (2001). Personality and performance at the beginning of the new millennium: What do we know and where do we go next? International Journal of Selection and Assessment , 9 , 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2389.00160

Bass, B. M. (1975). Leadership and performance beyond expectations . New York: Free Press

Beehr, T. A. (1995). Psychological stress in the workplace . London, England: Routledge.

Brannick, M. T., Levine, E. L., Morgeson, F. P., & Brannick, M. T. (2007). Job and work analysis: methods, research, and applications for human resource management (2nd ed). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2016). American time use survey: 2016 results . Obtained from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/atus.pdf .

Cascio, W. F., & Aguinis, H. (2011). Applied psychology in human resource management (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Clarke, S., & Roberston, I. (2008). An examination of the role of personality in work accidents using meta-analysis. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57 (1), 94–108.

Erdogan, B., Bauer, T. N., Truxillo, D. M., & Mansfield, L. R. (2012). Whistle while you work: A review of the life satisfaction literature. Journal of Management , 38 , 1038-1083.

Farr, J. L., & Tippins, N. T. (2010). Handbook of employee selection: An introduction and overview. In Handbook of employee selection (pp. 1–6). New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

Fleishman, E. A., & Harris, E. F. (1962). Patterns of leadership behavior related to employee grievances and turnover. Personnel Psychology , 15 , 43–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1962.tb01845.x

Friedman, G. (2014). Workers without employers: Shadow corporations and the rise of the gig economy. Review of Keynesian Economics , 2 , 171-188.

Goldin, R. (2004). Counting the costs of stress . STATS.org. Retrieved from https://workplacepsychology.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/counting-the-costs-of-stress.pdf

Griffin, M. A., & Neal, A. (2000). Perceptions of safety at work: A framework for linking safety climate to safety performance, knowledge, and motivation. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5 (3), 347–358.

Hackman, J. R. & Oldham, G. R. 1976. Motivation through the design of work. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16 , 250-279.

Huffcutt, A. I., Conway, J. M., Roth, P. L., & Stone, N. J. (2001). Identification and meta-analytic assessment of psychological constructs measured in employment interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology , 86 , 897–913.

Jex, S. M. (1998). Stress and job performance: Theory, research, and implications for managerial practice . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Jex, S. M., Swanson, N., & Grubb, P. (2013). Healthy workplaces. In N. W. Schmidt, S. Highhouse, & I. Weiner (Eds.), Handbook of psychology, industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 615–642). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Jiang, L., Yu, G., Li, Y., & Li, F. (2010). Perceived colleagues’ safety knowledge/behavior and safety performance: Safety climate as a moderator in a multilevel study. Accident Analysis And Prevention, 42 (5), 1468–1476.

Kaplan, S., & Tetrick, L. E. (2011). Workplace safety and accidents: An industrial and organizational psychology perspective. In S. Zedeck (Ed.), APA handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, Vol 1: Building and developing the organization (pp. 455–472). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Kirkpatrick, D. L. (1959). Techniques for evaluation training programs. Journal of the American Society of Training Directors, 13 , 21-26.

Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2004). Work in the 21st century . Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2010). Work in the 21st century: an introduction to industrial and organizational psychology (3rd ed.). Malden, Mass: Wiley-Blackwell.

Latané, B., Williams, K., & Harkins, S. (1979). Many hands make light the work: The causes and consequences of social loafing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37 , 822-832.

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting & task performance . Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist , 57 , 705–717. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705

Michalski, D.S. (2017). Master’s careers in psychology. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psn/2017/01/masters-careers.aspx

Moyce, S. C., & Schenker, M. (2018). Migrant workers and their occupational health and safety. Annual Review of Public Health , 39 , 351-365.

Myors, B., Lievens, F., Schollaert, E., Van Hoye, G., Cronshaw, S. F., Mladinic, A., … & Schuler, H. (2008). International perspectives on the legal environment for selection. Industrial and Organizational Psychology , 1 , 206-246.

Ployhart, R. E., Schmitt, N., & Tippins, N. T. (2017). Solving the supreme problem: 100 years of selection and recruitment at the Journal of Applied Psychology . Journal of Applied Psychology, 102 , 291-304.

Posthuma, R. A., Morgeson, F. P., & Campion, M. A. (2002). Beyond employment interview validity: A comprehensive narrative review of recent research and trends over time. Personnel Psychology , 55 , 1–81.

Rogers, M. E., Creed, P. A., & Glendon, A. I. (2008). The role of personality in adolescent career planning and exploration: A social cognitive perspective. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73 , 132-142.

Sanchez, J. I., & Levine, E. L. (2012). The Rise and Fall of Job Analysis and the Future of Work Analysis. Annual Review of Psychology , 63 , 397–425. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100401

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. (2004). General mental ability in the world of work: Occupational attainment and job performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 86 , 162–173. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.86.1.162

Scott, J. C., & Reynolds, D. H. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of workplace assessment: Evidence-based practices for selecting and developing organizational talent (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Susskind, R., & Susskind, D. (2016). The future of the professions: How technology will transform the work of human experts. New York: Oxford University Press.

Tetrick, L. E., & Quick, J. C. (2011). Overview of occupational health psychology: Public health in occupational settings. Handbook of occupational health psychology , 3–20.

Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and motivation . New York: Wiley

Zohar, D. (2011). Safety climate: Conceptual and measurement issues. In J. Quick, L. E. Tetrick (Eds.),

Handbook of occupational health psychology (2nd ed., pp. 141–164). Washington, DC:

American Psychological Association.

Introduction to Psychology as a Social Science Copyright © by The Introduction To Psychology As A Social Science Teaching and Learning Group is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Theses and Dissertations (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

• UnisaIR Home
• College of Economic and Management Sciences
• School of Management Sciences
• Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• By Issue Date

Search within this collection:

The copyright of the items in this collection belongs to the University of South Africa.

Recent Submissions

• A South African green entrepreneurship model utilising a system dynamics approach  Diale-Makgetla, Carol Dineo ( 2023-01-31 ) Purpose and orientation: The green economy in South Africa is perceived as a priority, as there is a need to save the planet, sustain resources for future generations, and boost the economy. Green entrepreneurship, ...
• The impact of an onboarding programme on work engagement and organisational commitment in a tertiary institution  Legodi, Chuene Abigail ( 2023-01 ) The primary aim of the study was to explore the relationship between an onboarding progamme, work engagement and organisational commitment in a South African tertiary institution. The secondary aim was to ascertain whether ...
• The impact of psychosocial employability attributes among registered HR and IOP professionals in South Africa  Hogg, Dustin ( 2023-06 ) The objective of this study was to measure the impact psychosocial employability attributes of human resources practitioners (HRPs) and industrial and organisational psychologists (IOPs) who are registered with and affiliated ...
• Work engagement and organisational commitment at a private distance learning institution in South Africa  Mushaninga, Yvonne ( 2023-10-09 ) Organisations are increasingly concerned about employees’ work engagement and organisational commitment due to the influence of the two constructs on important organisational outcomes. A question that is also pertinent is ...
• Employees turnover intentions : experiences of employees at a basic education public entity  Selesho, Refilwe Argentina ( 2021-06-14 ) The study was a qualitative research study and was based within the interpretive research paradigm. Participants were selected by means of convenience sampling which was guided by the availability and willingness of ...
• Investigating employee’s experiences of the pay-for-performance system within the banking sector in Limpopo Province  Nkoana, Mautswa Elizabeth ( 2022-12-04 ) This study aimed to explore the employee’s experiences with the pay-for-performance system within a banking institution in Polokwane, Limpopo province branches. The study was a qualitative research study and was based on ...
• Ethical leadership, group learning behaviour and group cohesion in the energy sector: a psycho-social model  Motabologa, Reneilwe Mathabo ( 2023-01 ) Orientation: At present, it is essential for organisations to have a sound ethical context which will enable the organisation to achieve sustainability, and to maintain a positive corporate image. For these reasons, ethical ...
• Exploring links between gender, dwelling and career interests among black emerging adults  Matjie, Mokgata Allen Tshepo ( 2018-07 ) The objectives of the research were (1) to establish the theoretical and empirical relationship between gender, dwelling and the career interests of young African emerging adults; and (2) to determine whether gender and ...
• A qualitative study of perceptions of recruiters when hiring persons with criminal record  Motlhanke, Ponatshego Palesa ( 2023-06 ) The intention of this study was to explore recruiters’ perceptions when hiring persons with a criminal record. Recruiters are the gatekeepers and champions of the recruitment process and therefore play an integral part in ...
• The relationship between psychological career resources and organisational commitment in a parastatal institution in Botswana  Rangel, Malebogo Rosemary ( 2023-05 ) The general aims of this research study were to: (1) Establish if a relationship existed between psychological career resources (PCR) and organisational commitment amongst employees in a parastatal institution in Botswana, ...
• The association between psychosocial career preoccupations and psychological career resources  Govender, Ashlin ( 2020-01 ) The study explored the association between psychological career resources and psychosocial career preoccupations. The participants comprised a convenience sample of N = 314 individuals of varying race, age, gender and ...
• The relationship between employability, career adaptability, and psychological capital amongst non-degreed youth at an educational institution  Van Vuuren, Jean ( 2022-12 ) The world of work is advancing and dominated by the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and ever-faster technological developments. Employability, rather than just finding employment, is required today. ...
• A staff retention model for state-owned enterprises in South Africa  Maphanga, Christinah Hlamalane ( 2023-06-14 ) The aim of this quantitative study was to develop a model of staff retention for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in South Africa. The literature review phase explored the concept of staff retention, the measurement of staff ...
• The validation of a big data analytics capability scale for the South African context  Naicker, Renee ( 2023-01 ) Literature confirms that few organisations have managed to enhance organisational performance through big data analytics capabilities (BDAC). Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to design and validate a BDAC ...
• Work-related sense of coherence, job satisfaction and job embeddedness in an engineering and construction organisation in Africa  Egling, Zoe Edith-Ann ( 2022-01-24 ) The overarching aim of this research study was to determine the nature of the relationship between Work-related Sense of Coherence (Work-SoC) and job satisfaction and job embeddedness and whether Work-SoC can predict job ...
• Exploring managers’ perceived effectiveness of interventions aimed at eradicating workplace bullying  Singo, Azwihangwisi Alfred ( 2023-01 ) The general aim of this research was to explore managers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of interventions aimed at eradicating workplace bullying, and to obtain recommendations as to how such interventions might be ...
• The Black African educators' work-life balance: a hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry  Mloyi, Wellington ( 2022-04 ) The purpose of this study was to explore the work-life balance (WLB) of Black African high school educators in an African context. African high school educators are confronted with multifarious and unique work-life ...
• Use of human resource information systems in the measurement of non-financial organisational success factors  Bonehill, Jason Frederick ( 2022-06 ) Orientation: Organisations make use of human resource information systems (HRISs) to store data and assist with the processing of employee and other related information. This data can be a great source of information ...
• The relationship between employee well-being and organisational effectiveness in a bond origination company in South Africa  Van der Merwe, Chryssa ( 2022-08 ) The well-being of employees influenced the way in which they performed and ultimately impacted the effectiveness of an organisation. The interdependent and mutually beneficial relationship between an organisation and its ...
• Investigating the relationship between career adaptability, career anchors and organizational commitment  Baldeo, Ronika ( 2022-02 ) The aim of this study was to (1) to investigate the relationship between career adaptability (measured by the Career Adaptability Scale), career anchors (measured by the Career Orientations Inventory) and organisational ...

Search UnisaIR

All of unisair.

• Communities & Collections

This Collection

• Cloete, Michael Stanley (2)
• Diedericks, Johanna Catharina (2)
• Esterhuizen, Wika (2)
• Gerber, Frans Jacobus (2)
• Harry, Nisha (2)
• Jacobs, Rochelle Dorothy (2)
• Macamo, Monica Aniceto (2)
• Marx, Anna Aletta (2)
• Moerane, Elias Mochabo (2)
• Mogale, Phillemon Matsapola (2)
• ... View More
• Sense of coherence (46)
• Personality (35)
• Job satisfaction (30)
• Leadership (30)
• Emotional intelligence (29)
• Psychology, Industrial (25)
• Salutogenesis (24)
• Burnout (22)
• Work engagement (22)

Date Issued

• 2020 - 2023 (52)
• 2010 - 2019 (173)
• 2000 - 2009 (110)
• 1992 - 1999 (52)

Has File(s)

• View Usage Statistics

The browser you are using is no longer supported and for that reason you will not get the best experience when using our website.

You currently have JavaScript disabled in your web browser, please enable JavaScript to view our website as intended.

Occupational Psychology MSc, by distance learning

This is for you if... you want a sound knowledge and understanding of how psychology can be applied in an occupational context.

Occupational Psychology MSc, by distance learning , 2 years

Course information.

UK fee £12,950

International fee £12,950

Taught by School of Psychology and Vision Sciences

• 20% alumni discount
• International student information

Accredited by the Association for Business Psychology (ABP)

Accredited by the British Psychological Society

Admissions and course enquiries +44 (0)116 252 5281 Submit a course enquiry

School of Psychology and Vision Sciences

Course description

This British Psychological Society (BPS) and Association for Business Psychologists (ABP) accredited postgraduate distance learning degree will equip you with an excellent level of knowledge and understanding of a broad range of topics in Occupational Psychology, including an appreciation of theory, an awareness of the strengths and limitations of research evidence, and how research can be used to help organisations and its employees. It also provides stage one towards the BPS Qualification in Occupational Psychology.

You will learn how to apply occupational psychology methodologies to solve real-life problems in organisations. Core psychological theories will be illustrated with the latest research and examples of practice. You will develop a range of applied skills including interviewing, evaluation and questionnaire design.

The course uses an online teaching and learning system to create an interactive learning environment. Your learning materials are accessed completely online at any time of the day. Distance learning with the School of Psychology means studying in your own time on a part-time basis, so you can combine achieving a qualification with work or family commitments. You will benefit from our professionally created course syllabus that meets the needs of professionals working in the field. The course team consists of both academics and practitioners with a wide range of expertise across all areas of the subject.

An optional two-day Course Conference is held annually at the University and online, consisting of workshops and study skills sessions. The Conference provides support for your studies and the opportunity to hear esteemed speakers, both academic and practitioner, from different areas within applied psychology. It is also an excellent opportunity to meet staff and fellow students. The dates for the 2024 conference are Friday 11th and Saturday 12th October.

As part of the course you can also sign up for optional psychometric test training courses . (There is an additional cost for these.)

Entry requirements

Second class honours degree in Psychology that confers Graduate Basis for Chartership with the British Psychological Society (BPS).

You must also have some occupational experience.

English Language Requirements

IELTS 6.5 or equivalent. If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence of your  English language ability .

International Qualifications

Find your country in this list to check equivalent qualifications, scholarships and additional requirements.

Fees and funding

Uk students, starting in october 2024.

• MSc: £12,950

Find out more about how to pay and scholarships and funding .

Did you know you can apply for a Government Postgraduate Loan?  Find out if you're eligible.

International Students

Accreditation.

This MSc is fully accredited by the  British Psychological Society . This means you can go on to stage 2 to become a Chartered Occupational Psychologist.

Careers and employability

Our Career Development Service  is here to support you – by email, phone or skype – with advice on interviews, CVs, work experience and more. From registration to Graduation and beyond, they are here to help you reach your professional goals.

Related courses

Research methods in psychology, research methods in human cognitive neuroscience psychology, research methods in psychology of mental health, psychology of work, receive email updates, course structure.

• Learning, Training and Development
• Psychological Assessment at Work
• Work Design, Organisational Change and Development
• Leadership, Engagement and Motivation
• Research Methods

Modules shown represent choices available to current students. The range of modules available and the content of any individual module may change in future years.

• Application of Occupational Psychology
• Wellbeing at Work

Plus your Empirical Dissertation (10,000 words)

Recent dissertations topics include:

• 'Aptitude or personality: student pilot performance in a cross-cultural setting'
• 'A cross-cultural review of employee resistance to organisational change within the PCB industry'
• 'The relationship between the physical work environment, job satisfaction and organisational commitment'
• 'Occupational stress: a comparison between full-time and part-time working mothers'
• 'The impact of Psychological Capital on the relationship between exposure to bullying behaviours and both psychological health and self-perceptions of being bullied'
• 'Examination of perceptions of employee engagement'

Why Leicester?

A distance learning course from the University of Leicester lets you study at home – from anywhere in the UK or from anywhere in the world - in a way that enables you to fit your learning around your personal and professional life.

At the end of the course you will have a fully recognised degree, just the same as those awarded to students on campus full-time.

Support for your studies is provided by members of our psychology team, some of whom are professional psychologists working in a range on industries.

Teaching and learning

On a distance learning course, you will study in your own time on a part-time basis, so you can combine achieving a qualification with work or family commitments.

Teaching is through specially prepared course materials and other directed reading. Each module is made up of one to three written assignments. There are discussion boards on our virtual learning environment (Blackboard) which let you engage with tutors and other students; these also contribute to your assessment.

A range of assessments are used across the course including case studies, presentations (via Skype) and research reports. 

There is also an annual course conference at Leicester.

Start date: 7 October 2024 Application deadline for October 2024: 16 September 2024

Applying for

Where are you studying, when would you like to start, how would you like to study.

Oops there was an error.

You are now being forwarded to our online application system!

If you are not forwarded in 5 seconds, please click here or copy the link below in to your browser.

The course has been amazing. It’s given me a broad range of skills and I can apply the theory and concepts to my current role.

Amanda, MSc Psychology of Work

• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

IResearchNet

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Topics

Industrial-Organizational (I-O)Psychology is defined simply as “psychology applied to work” (APA 1971). It studies “work” in its broadest sense, including paid and unpaid effort, recreation, and any purpose-driven effort (sports, hobbies). Compared with other specialties, I-O is more “applied” – putting practice above theory, since it typically aims to solve specific problems, increase efficiency, and maximize outcomes.

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Research Topics

• Corporate Ethics Topics
• Group Dynamics Topics
• Individual Differences Topics
• Job Satisfaction Topics
• Leadership and Management Topics
• Organizational Behavior Topics
• Organizational Development Topics
• Recruitment Topics
• Work Motivation Topics

Compared with other fields of psychology, I-O psychology today has several features: (a) Small: I-O is a small specialty, including just 5% of US psychologists. (b) High-employment: Since I-O is in high demand in the industry; it has a negative unemployment rate below zero. (c) Lucrative: I-O has long had the highest salary, averaging at least 25% higher than 14 other psychology specialties. (d) Separate: I-O has become a very separate specialty within psychology, with its own independent association since 1987 – the Society for I-O Psychology (SIOP). (e) Hybrid: I-O overlaps with business and other social sciences. (f) Credentials: There is no one credential to define who is an I-O psychologist – be this a M.A., M.S., M.B.A., Ph.D., Psy.D., state license, APA or SIOP membership, or ABPP Diploma. (g) Demographics: SIOP members today are 6% ethnic minorities, 37% female, only 26% licensed, and 85% have a doctorate. I-O work settings vary greatly – employees in large firms, small “boutique” consulting firms, professors in psychology or business programs, or solo-practitioners.

Today, I-O psychology faces several challenges – such as globalization of organizations, the increased diversity of the US workforce, increased regulation by government and labor law, and the changing nature of work. These same challenges make a science-based I-O psychology more indispensable to successful organizations.

References:

• American Psychological Association (APA). (1971). Effective practice of psychology in industry: Task Force on the practice of psychology in industry. American Psychologist, 26, 974–991.
• Benjamin, L.T.,&Baker, D. B. (2004). Fromse´ance to science: Ahistory of the profession of psychology in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
• Dunnette, M. D., & Hough, L. (Eds.). (1990–1994). Handbook of industrial-organizational psychology. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.
• Jones, J.W., Steffy, B. D., & Bray, D.W. (1991). Applying psychology in business: Handbook for managers and HR professionals. Lexington: Lexington Books.
• McGregor, D. M. (1960). The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Riggio, R. E. (2008). Introduction to industrial-organizational psychology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
• Roethlisberger, F. J., & Dickson, W. J. (1939). Management and the worker. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• Scott, W. D. (1903). The theory of advertising. Boston: Small, Maynard, & Co.
• Zedeck, S. (Ed.) (2011). APA Handbook of industrial-organizational psychology. Washington, DC: APA.

• Find a course
• Undergraduate study
• Postgraduate study
• MPhil/PhD research
• Short courses
• Entry requirements
• Financial support

How to apply

• Come and meet us
• Evening study explained
• International Students
• Student Services
• Business Services
• Student life at Birkbeck
• The Birkbeck Experience
• Boost your career
• About Birkbeck
• Contact Birkbeck
• Faculties and Schools
• ReciteMe accessibility

Professional Practice in Occupational Psychology

Application options include:

Course Overview

This Professional Doctorate in Occupational Psychology is an accredited University of London doctoral degree. It is accredited by the British Psychological Society as an alternative to the British Psychological Society's (BPS) Stage 2 Qualification in Occupational Psychology, meaning that successful completion of the programme confers eligibility for chartership through the BPS (subject to holding Graduate Basis for Registration).

If you hold a BPS-accredited master's degree in organisational/occupational and/or business psychology, and you are in related employment, this doctorate will let you apply your learning directly in the workplace and use your work experience to inform your research. 

The first two years will develop your professional competence and prepare you for independent research and practice through the following six professional practice portfolios:

• Leadership, Engagement and Motivation
• Learning, Training and Development
• Psychological Assessment at Work
• Wellbeing and Work
• Work Design, Organisational Change and Development
• Extended Case Study and Presentation .

If you successfully complete this stage, you can either graduate with an MRes in Professional Practice in Occupational Psychology or progress to Years 3 and 4 to develop your competence in research methods and consolidate your skills as an evidence-based practitioner and researcher so that you can complete a 40,000-50,000-word doctoral thesis.

We have expertise in both qualitative and quantitative techniques and are well placed to supervise all research topics in occupational psychology. Our particular interests include:

• Coaching, careers and lifespan development
• Diversity and inclusion in the workplace
• Decision making, heuristics and bias
• Leadership and critical management studies
• Organisational sociology 
• Professional development and training
• Selection and assessment 
• Worklife balance, boundary management and digitisation of work
• Well-being and occupational health.

Key information

Professional practice in occupational psychology mres: 5 years part-time, on campus, starting 2024-25.

Find another course:

• You will have the opportunity to work with, and be supervised by, the UK’s most renowned academics and practitioners in the field of organisational psychology, including  Clare Mulligan-Foster , Hayley Lewis and Julie Gore .
• Birkbeck was the first institution in the UK to establish teaching and research in occupational psychology over 60 years ago. We continue to play a distinctive role in British occupational psychology - and, increasingly, within organisational behaviour.
• Birkbeck is  one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions . Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society. 
• Birkbeck’s research excellence was  confirmed in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework  with 83% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
• You will get access to superb library resources, including Birkbeck Library , the British Library , Senate House ( University of London) Library and a wide range of  libraries in the Bloomsbury area .

Entry Requirements

Graduate Basis for Chartership and an accredited master's degree in organisational/ occupational and/or business psychology (at Merit or above) required.

You must be in relevant employment and able to apply your learning to the workplace as an integral part of the programme. You must be competent in written and spoken English and have good social and communication skills.

Students who have already completed Stage Two of the BPS Chartership process (and are therefore, or are eligible to be, both Chartered and hold Registered Psychologist status with the HCPC) will be exempt from Part One (Professional Practice Portfolio) which includes six modules at Level 7. Selection to the course will be through completion of an application form, and an interview.

Pending success at the interview stage, pre-enrolment, you will be asked for an up-to-date Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, the requirement for this programme is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 7.0, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.

If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement,   we offer pre-sessional English courses, foundation programmes and language support services   to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.

Visit the International section of our website to find out more about our  English language entry requirements and relevant requirements by country .

Visa and funding requirements

If you are not from the UK and you do not already have residency here, you may need to apply for a visa.

The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

• Courses of more than six months' duration: Student visa
• Courses of less than six months' duration: Standard Visitor visa

International students who require a Student visa should apply for our full-time courses as these qualify for Student visa sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to enrol as a student on Birkbeck's part-time courses (with the exception of some modules).

For full information, read our visa information for international students page .

Please also visit the international section of our website to find out more about relevant visa and funding requirements by country .

Please note students receiving US Federal Aid are only able to apply for in-person, on-campus programmes which will have no elements of online study.

Professional Practice in Occupational Psychology MRes: 5 years part-time, on campus, starting in academic year 2024-25

Academic year 2024–25, starting january 2025.

Part-time home students, Year 1&2: £7,080 per year Part-time international students , Year 1&2: £10,935 per year Part-time home students, Year 3&4: £5,445 per year Part-time international students, Year 3&4: £9,465 per year

Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course. Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases. For more information, please see the College Fees Policy .

If you’ve studied at Birkbeck before and successfully completed an award with us, take advantage of our Lifelong Learning Guarantee to gain a discount on the tuition fee of this course.

Fees and finance

PhD students resident in England can apply for government loans of over £26,000 to cover the cost of tuition fees, maintenance and other study-related costs.

Flexible finance: pay your fees in monthly instalments at no extra cost . Enrol early to spread your costs and reduce your monthly payments.

We offer a range of studentships and funding options to support your research.

Discover the financial support available to you to help with your studies at Birkbeck.

International scholarships

We provide a range of scholarships for eligible international students, including our Global Future Scholarship. Discover if you are eligible for a scholarship .

Our research culture

Birkbeck was the first institution in the UK to establish teaching and research in occupational psychology over 60 years ago. We continue to play a distinctive role in British occupational psychology - and, increasingly, within organisational behaviour. We engage in significant collaborative research and have excellent contacts with many public and private sector organisations, professional bodies and researchers at other academic institutions.

As a research student, you will receive  training in theory and research methodology , provided partly by Birkbeck and partly by other University of London institutions. You will also complete an annual report on your progress. You will be invited to attend research student seminars held four or five times each term at Birkbeck in the evenings. We offer a wide range of  student support and study facilities .

Read more about  our vibrant research culture .

Follow these steps to apply for the MRes/Professional Doctorate at Birkbeck:

1. Check that you meet the entry requirements, including English language requirements, as described on this page.

2. Apply directly to Birkbeck, using the online application link on this page.

All research students are initially registered on the MRes and then upgrade to the Professional Doctorate after making sufficient progress. You will be asked to fill out a supplementary application form which includes the following questions:

• How do you currently ensure that your practice is evidence based?
• In what ways do you engage with advancements in research and practice? (250 words max)
• What is your strategy for how you will combine work and study whilst enrolled on this programme? In particular, how will you prioritise and deal with potentially conflicting demands and ensure that you engage in supervision? (250 words max)

If applying for the full Professional Doctorate only:

• How do you anticipate being able to gather evidence across all five areas of organisational psychology?

Ensure that you cover all areas in your answer. If you are already a chartered occupational psychologist, please provide a paragraph, written in academic style and appropriately referenced, summarising the state of evidence in a specific area/practice within organisational psychology. This should be an area that you are passionate about. (400 words max)

Application deadlines and interviews

Closing date for application is 30 April. However, we would encourage you to apply as soon as possible as interviews will start in June.

Apply for your course

Apply for your course using the apply now button in the key information section .

Finding a supervisor

A critical factor when applying for postgraduate study in organisational psychology is the correlation between the applicant’s intellectual and research interests and those of one or more potential supervisors. A supervisor will be allocated to you from the project team.

Related courses

• Psychology (MPhil/PhD)
• Organizational Psychology (MPhil/PhD)

Browser does not support script.

Occupational Psychology MSc/PGDip

• Full-time: Up to 12 months
• Part-time: Up to 24 months
• Start date: September 2024
• UK fees: £10,500
• International fees: £26,250
• Entry requirements: 2:1 in Psychology

Course overview

Take the next step in your career using psychology in the world of work. Join our British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited course to get your Stage 1 qualification in Occupational Psychology. Upon graduation, you should be ready to continue on to Stage 2 training, the final part of becoming a Chartered Psychologist and registered Practitioner Psychologist. Due to the professional accreditation route which this course is part of, you must have a BPS-accredited undergraduate degree in Psychology.

Our Occupational Psychology MSc provides you with a grounding in the key theoretical and research models used within the field. You'll learn how to motivate employees, train and lead them, and how to assess their performance. As well as job design, managing organisational change, managing well-being in the workplace and more. All of which are particularly valuable to future employers, including specialist: Occupational Psychology consultancies, business and management consultancies and other large organisations who employ psychology specialists within their corporate teams

We're committed to developing your practical skills and enabling you to advance as a practitioner. That's why you'll learn consultancy skills and how to use evidence-practice. You'll also benefit from being taught by research-active experts in the field.

An advanced degree from Nottingham will see you graduate with the knowledge and skills needed to commence stage 2 training and apply what you've learned to the real world of work.

Why choose this course?

Bps accredited.

Complete stage 1 of the professional accreditation route to becoming a qualified occupational psychologist

Experts in the field

Learn from our teaching team and invited guest speakers

Practical application

Focus on applying your new skills to practice through modules like Consultancy Skills

Evidence-based

Apply evidence-based solutions to help solve workplace problems

Established course

We've been training future occupational psychologists since 1986

Course content

You'll study across a number of compulsory modules designed to provide you with a sound knowledge and understanding of core areas of occupational psychology along with the skills to apply that knowledge in a practical setting.

Study takes place over three semesters, autumn, spring, and summer. Typically taught modules are delivered in the autumn and spring semesters with the summer used for the research project, though this is dependent on your mode of study.

MSc students will take all of the compulsory modules for a total of 180 credits.

Students taking the Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) cover the same modules but do not take the Project and Dissertation module, for a total of 120 credits.

This is an empirical research project in psychology. 

You'll conduct an 8,000-word dissertation on a topic of your choosing related to applied research and associated methods in an organisational context.

You'll be assigned a supervisor who will be available to support you throughout your project.

This workshop-style module is run in collaboration with the owner-director of an occupational psychology consultancy organisation and a number of their staff. Using role play and other in-class activities, the workshop provides an opportunity for students to:

• Develop an understanding of skills and competencies required of a consultant and reflective practitioner
• Translate psychological knowledge, concepts and ideas into a language understandable by a non-psychologist
• Interpret basic statistical evidence and convert this into proposed consultancy activities
• Pitch for a possible piece of consultancy to a panel of people from the client organisation

Gain the knowledge and skills to effectively plan and design research as well as to critically appraise published research. You will be introduced to how to write a literature review in a systematic way, how to write a research proposal, study designs (including developing research questions), ethics and practical issues when planning and conducting research.

The module also covers designing questionnaires, psychometric issues such as reliability and validity, using interviews and focus groups, and use if the internet and an introduction to online research methods.

This module introduces the important issues of leadership, employee motivation and engagement at work, and considers the contribution that psychological theory makes to our understanding of these areas. The module also considers the role of the psychological contract and organisational justice as concepts for understanding employee relations and explores the opposing issues of citizenship and counterproductive behaviours. There is also a focus on appraising employee performance with emphasis on exploring the global move towards engaging with multi-source feedback.

This module begins with outlining theories of learning and the application of these to training development and design in organisations. Elements of the training cycle are discussed, including training needs analysis, training transfer and evaluation of training. Different methods of training delivery are evaluated, including consideration of e-learning and online training, whilst the development of innovation and creativity are also considered. The second part of the module focuses on employee development from a careers perspective and students are given the opportunity to explore practical implications by planning their own career development. Theories of occupational choice and career development are explored and the role of coaching, counselling and mentoring in relation to employee development are examined.

This module provides an introduction to various approaches to understanding organisations and the environments in which they operate. Areas covered include:

• Organisational structure, design, culture and climate
• Power, influence and negotiation in organisations; consumer psychology
• Methods and models of organisational development and change
• Organisational effectiveness, productivity, performance
• Groups, teams and teamwork

This module covers contemporary issues in selection and assessment both from a psychological perspective and as an important personnel system for organisations. It provides discussion of: the nature of the selection system, organisational and job analysis, recruitment, selection interviewing and psychometric testing, selection validation, the nature and use of assessment centres, and the adverse impact of selection methods. The emphasis throughout the module is on selection as a process comprising an identification stage, a design and delivery stage, and an evaluation stage, with multiple feedback loops between stages.

Through a series of lectures, practical workshops and assignments, this module will take you through the design, operationalization, data-collection, data analysis, and report-writing processes of a quantitative research study in mental health and applied psychology.

Advanced techniques and software including Multi-Level Modelling; Meta analysis; Factor Analysis; Path Analysis.

You will be introduced to a range of qualitative approaches and the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings and practical application of qualitative methods.

Teaching will combine lectures, workshops, and self-directed study. Sessions will include a focus on interviews and focus groups, Realist Evaluation, thematic analysis, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, narrative approaches and Grounded Theory.

Students will be guided to consider developing qualitative research questions, ethical issues in qualitative research and the critical appraisal of qualitative research evidence.

This module explores the role of individual, social and organisational factors in work environments and the promotion of well-being at work. Drawing from key literature in occupational health psychology, a major theme is work-related stress - its nature, causes and effects. The experience of stress offers one vehicle for understanding the link between those adverse working conditions and individual and organisational ill-health. The module also considers other major contemporary concerns such as bullying, harassment and violence. The focus of the module then shifts towards an exploration how these problems and others can be best controlled and managed through job design, the design of work environments and contemporary ergonomics. Various models of prevention and organisational interventions are suggested, covering both risk based perspectives, participatory approaches and positive psychological perspectives. Examples of interventions are considered both at the individual and organisational levels. Future challenges, both theoretical and practical are identified.

Learning and assessment

How you will learn.

• Small group learning

How you will be assessed

• Presentations
• Research project

Your work will be assessed during or at the end of each module through a variety of means. On some occasions, you may be asked to do an individual or group-based presentation which, though not formally assessed, will help you demonstrate your knowledge and skills.

To complete a module and gain its credits you'll need to make sure you attend your timetabled sessions and get over the 50% pass mark.

To achieve the MSc, you'll need a total of 180 credits.

To achieve the PGDip, you'll need a total of 120 credits.

Contact time and study hours

We encourage our students to think of the course like they would a full-time job and spend around 37 hours on it per week including teaching time. Part-time students should consider it similar to a part-time job.

You are expected to work roughly 10 hours for each credit on the course including teaching and independent study, so a 20 credit module should take around 200 hours to complete or around a total of 25 eight-hour days.

If you choose the full-time route, you'll study over two semesters and a summer period totalling around 12 months.

Teaching is usually delivered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays during the semesters. You'll have an average of eight to 12 contact hours each week. However, the time and days of teaching will depend on the modules.

Non-teaching days are intended for private study and research.

If you choose the part-time route, you'll learn the same course content over a period of 24 or 36 months.

Teaching is usually delivered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays during the semesters. Part-time students will typically attend teaching one to two days a week or about four to eight hours per week. If you choose to study over three years, you'll have less. 

We try wherever possible to be flexible to help you manage your timetable.

You're expected to devote around two and a half to three days per week to the course including attending teaching, private study, and research.

Entry requirements

All candidates are considered on an individual basis and we accept a broad range of qualifications. The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.

• Home / UK students
• EU / International students

Alternative qualifications

You'll need evidence of holding Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) either from your University or the British Psychological Society (BPS). If you have not studied an accredited course, you'll need to take an accredited conversion programme or look at our other offerings.

Find out more about accredited conversion programmes.

Holders of non-BPS-accredited psychology degrees

If you have an undergraduate degree (2:1 or above) that does not give you the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), the Work and Organisational Psychology MSc may be more suitable for you.

Non-psychology graduates

If you have an undergraduate degree in a discipline other than psychology, the Management Psychology MSc may be more suitable.

You'll need evidence of holding Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) either from your University or the British Psychological Society (BPS).

If you've completed your degree at an institution outside of the UK, you'll need to submit an individual application for Graduate Membership of the British Psychological Society so they can properly assess your eligibility for the GBC.

Find out more about applying for graduate membership of the BPS.

Meeting our English language requirements

If you need support to meet the required level, you may be able to attend a presessional English course. Presessional courses teach you academic skills in addition to English language. Our  Centre for English Language Education is accredited by the British Council for the teaching of English in the UK.

If you successfully complete your presessional course to the required level, you can then progress to your degree course. This means that you won't need to retake IELTS or equivalent.

For on-campus presessional English courses, you must take IELTS for UKVI to meet visa regulations. For online presessional courses, see our CELE webpages for guidance

Visa restrictions

International students must have valid UK immigration permissions for any courses or study period where teaching takes place in the UK. Student route visas can be issued for eligible students studying full-time courses. The University of Nottingham does not sponsor a student visa for students studying part-time courses. The Standard Visitor visa route is not appropriate in all cases. Please contact the university’s Visa and Immigration team if you need advice about your visa options.

We recognise that applicants have a variety of experiences and follow different pathways to postgraduate study.

We treat all applicants with alternative qualifications on an individual basis. We may also consider relevant work experience.

If you are unsure whether your qualifications or work experience are relevant, contact us .

If you have any course-specific questions you can email the course director, Dr Louise Thomson .

Our step-by-step guide covers everything you need to know about applying.

Where you will learn

Jubilee campus.

Jubilee Campus has eco-friendly buildings, alongside green spaces, wildlife and a lake. 

This campus is home to our business, education and computer science schools, as well as a sports centre and student accommodation.

You can walk to  University Park Campus  in around 20 minutes or catch a free hopper bus. Nottingham city centre is 20 minutes away by public bus.

University Park Campus

University Park Campus  covers 300 acres, with green spaces, wildlife, period buildings and modern facilities. It is one of the UK's most beautiful and sustainable campuses, winning a national Green Flag award every year since 2003.

Most schools and departments are based here. You will have access to libraries, shops, cafes, the Students’ Union, sports village and a health centre.

You can walk or cycle around campus. Free hopper buses connect you to our other campuses. Nottingham city centre is 15 minutes away by public bus or tram.

Additional information for international students

If you are a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland, you may be asked to complete a fee status questionnaire and your answers will be assessed using guidance issued by the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) .

These fees are for full-time study. If you are studying part-time, you will be charged a proportion of this fee each year (subject to inflation).

Additional costs

All students will need at least one device to approve security access requests via Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We also recommend students have a suitable laptop to work both on and off-campus. For more information, please check the equipment advice .

As a student on this course, you should factor some additional costs into your budget, alongside your tuition fees and living expenses such as travel and accommodation.

You should be able to access the books and resources you need for the course through our libraries, however, you may wish to purchase your own copies or get specific books which may cost up to £80 each.

We also offer access to an optional discounted external course on Occupational Test User Training, which is an additional qualification accredited by the BPS and attractive to employers. The course teaches you how to use Occupational Ability tests and Personality Tests. It is run by consultants at Affinity Health at Work. The course costs £800 in total for the two different components plus the BPS student concessionary fees .

There are many ways to fund your postgraduate course, from scholarships to government loans.

We also offer a range of international masters scholarships for high-achieving international scholars who can put their Nottingham degree to great use in their careers.

Check our guide to find out more about funding your postgraduate degree.

• Careers advice
• Job prospects

We offer individual careers support for all postgraduate students .

Expert staff can help you research career options and job vacancies, build your CV or résumé, develop your interview skills and meet employers.

Each year 1,100 employers advertise graduate jobs and internships through our online vacancy service. We host regular careers fairs, including specialist fairs for different sectors.

International students who complete an eligible degree programme in the UK on a student visa can apply to stay and work in the UK after their course under the Graduate immigration route . Eligible courses at the University of Nottingham include bachelors, masters and research degrees, and PGCE courses.

Graduate destinations

Our graduates go on to a wide range of careers around the world. Some of our graduates have gone on to roles in:

• work psychology consultancy firms
• management consultancy firms
• occupational psychology in the Civil Service and other public sector organisations
• learning and training in the public and private sector
• recruitment and talent development 
• human resources

Career progression

78.4% of postgraduates from the School of Medicine secured graduate level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average annual salary for these graduates was £28,505.*

*HESA Graduate Outcomes 2019/20 data published in 2022. The Graduate Outcomes % is derived using The Guardian University Guide methodology. The average annual salary is based on graduates working full-time, postgraduate, home graduates within the UK.

We work with a number of organisations and consultancies to support student placements and work experience. These include: Psychological Consultancy Ltd, The Work Psychology Group and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Related courses

Psychiatry and applied psychology phd/dm/mphil.

The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) is a national grading system, introduced by the government in England. It assesses the quality of undergraduate teaching at universities and how well they ensure excellent outcomes for their students in terms of graduate-level employment or further study.

This content was last updated on Wednesday 21 February 2024. Every effort has been made to ensure that this information is accurate, but changes are likely to occur given the interval between the date of publishing and course start date. It is therefore very important to check this website for any updates before you apply.

• How it works

Useful Links

How much will your dissertation cost?

Have an expert academic write your dissertation paper!

Dissertation Services

Get unlimited topic ideas and a dissertation plan for just £45.00

Order topics and plan

Get 1 free topic in your area of study with aim and justification

Yes I want the free topic

Psychology Dissertation Topics

Published by Carmen Troy at January 10th, 2023 , Revised On May 17, 2024

Introduction

Psychology entails the study of mental processes and behaviour. Over the last several years, the demand for psychology graduates has continuously risen due to the growing number of people with psychic problems.

As a psychology student, you can explore one of the many areas of psychology as part of your dissertation project. You can specialise in industrial physiology, mental health, behavioural psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, personality psychology, social psychology, biological psychology, and psychosocial psychology.

While there are many topic options for psychology students, make sure that you choose one where there is a gap in the literature and more work needs to be done.

To help you get started with brainstorming for psychology topic ideas, we have developed a list of the latest topics that can be used for writing your psychology dissertation.

You may also want to start your dissertation by requesting  a brief research proposal  from our writers on any of these topics, which includes an  introduction  to the topic,  research question ,  aim and objectives ,  literature review  along with the proposed  methodology  of research to be conducted.  Let us know  if you need any help in getting started.

Check our  dissertation examples  to get an idea of  how to structure your dissertation .

Review the full list of  dissertation topics here.

Psychology Research Topics

Impact of automation in the manufacturing sector on employee distress and happiness in the uk- an exploratory study finding the psychoeconomic factors.

Research Aim: This study intends to find the impact of automation in the manufacturing sector on employee distress and happiness in the UK. It will explore the moderating Psychoeconomic (Psychological and Economic) factors affected by the increasing automation in the manufacturing industry, affecting the employees’ distress and happiness levels. Furthermore, it will examine the strategies implemented by the manufacturing companies to prevent their employees from the anxiety and unhappiness induced by automation after the technological revolution.

Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive Performance Among Adults Working from Home during COVID-19 in the UK

Research Aim: This research aims to analyse the impact of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance among adults working from home during COVID-19 in the UK. It will identify how sleep deprivation during COVID-19 affected various mental abilities of employees who were forced to work from home. It will also see how these abilities affect the employees’ productivity during COVID-19. Additionally, it will show the policies adopted by the companies to prevent their employees from working overtime to have proper sleep. And how does it improve their cognitive performance and productivity?

Effects of Bad Incidents on Children’s Intelligence- A Critical Assessment through a Clinical Psychology Lens

Research Aim: This research shows the effects of bad incidents on children’s intelligence. It will use a clinical psychology lens to show how clinicians see the relationship between bad incidents in childhood and their impact on children’s intelligence in later life. And in which was these incidents shape the intelligence of children while growing up. Furthermore, it will present a wide range of clinical procedures to overcome the lingering effects of bad incidents on children’s intelligence in later life.

Impact of Marriage Satisfaction on Job Performance in High-Stress Jobs- A Case of Individuals Working in Investment Firms in the UK

Research Aim: This research analyses the impact of marriage satisfaction on job performance in high-stress jobs. It will use investment firms in the UK as a case study to analyse how marriage satisfaction affects the performance of men and women working in high-stress jobs such as trading and investments. Moreover, it will explore various psychological parts of the job affected by the problems in a marriage. Lastly, it will recommend ways to offset the bad effects of unstable marriage to improve job performance.

The Role of Educational-Psychological Counseling in Career Selection among Immigrant Children in the UK

Research Aim: This research investigates the role of educational-psychological counselling in career selection among immigrant children in the UK. It will show how educational-psychological counselling different aspects of their academic life and help them decide what to pursue in later life. It will also show how this counselling can help them believe that despite coming from outside of the UK, they still have a chance to succeed.

The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) on Reducing Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression

Research Aim: This study investigates the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, It focuses on exploring the comparative efficacy of different types of MBIs and their potential mechanisms of action.

Investigate the impact of introducing mindfulness programs in school curricula to enhance mental well-being among adolescents.

Research Aim: This study aims to examine the impact of integrating mindfulness programs into school curricula to enhance mental well-being among adolescents. Through empirical investigation, it seeks to assess the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression levels, as well as promoting overall psychological resilience and positive emotional regulation. Additionally, the research aims to explore potential factors influencing program efficacy.

Exploring the Link Between Mood and Innovation in Entrepreneurship

Research Aim: This research investigates the intricate relationship between mood and innovation within the context of entrepreneurship. By exploring how varying moods influence the generation, adoption, and implementation of innovative ideas by entrepreneurs, the study seeks to uncover potential patterns and mechanisms that drive entrepreneurial creativity. The research further explores how understanding this link is crucial for informing strategies to foster innovation within entrepreneurial ventures.

An Examination of the Interplay Between Depression and Creative Writing: Case Studies in Literature

Research Aim: This research examines the complex interplay between depression and creative writing through case studies in literature. It focuses on the experiences of writers who have battled depression and analysing how their mental health condition intersects with their creative process and output, this study seeks to shed light on the relationship between mood disorders and literary creativity. 

Investigating the neurobiological basis of ADHD: brain structure, neurotransmitter function, and genetics.

Research Aim: The study explores the interplay between brain structure, neurotransmitter function, and genetic factors in individuals with ADHD. It focuses on elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the disorder.

Examine the relationship between ADHD and comorbid mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.

Research Aim: This study explores the complex relationship between ADHD and comorbid mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. It discusses the underlying mechanisms, common risk factors, and potential therapeutic implications for effective management and treatment strategies.

Covid-19 Psychology Research Topics

Topic 1: impacts of coronavirus on the mental health of various age groups.

Research Aim: This study will reveal the impacts of coronavirus on the mental health of various age groups

Topic 2: Mental health and psychological resilience during COVID-19

Research Aim: Social distancing has made people isolated and affected their mental health. This study will highlight various measures to overcome the stress and mental health of people during coronavirus.

Topic 3: The mental health of children and families during COVID-19

Research Aim: This study will address the challenging situations faced by children and families during lockdown due to COVID-19. It will also discuss various ways to overcome the fear of disease and stay positive.

Topic 4: Mental wellbeing of patients during Coronavirus pandemic

Research Aim: This study will focus on the measures taken by the hospital management, government, and families, to ensure the mental wellbeing of patients, especially COVID-19 patients.

Psychology Dissertation Topics in Social Sciences

Topic 1: kids and their relatives with cancer: psychological challenges.

Research Aim: In cancer diagnoses and therapies, children often don’t know what happens. Many have psychosocial problems, including rage, terror, depression, disturbing sleep, inexpiable guilt, and panic. Therefore, this study identifies and treats the child and its family members’ psychological issues.

Topic 2: Hematopoietic device reaction in ophthalmology patient’s radiation therapy

Research Aim: This research is based on the analysis of hematopoietic devices’ reactions to ophthalmology radiation.

Topic 3: Psychological effects of cyberbullying Vs. physical bullying: A counter study

Research Aim: This research will focus on the effects of cyberbullying and physical bullying and their consequences on the victim’s mental health. The most significant part is the counter effects on our society’s environment and human behaviour, particularly youth.

Topic 4: Whether or not predictive processing is a theory of perceptual consciousness?

Research Aim: This research aims to identify whether predictive processing is a theory of perceptual consciousness or not.

Topic 5: Importance of communication in a relationship

Research Aim: This research aims to address the importance of communication in relationships and the communication gap consequences.

Topic 6: Eating and personality disorders

Research Aim: This research aims to focus on eating and personality disorders

Topic 7: Analysis of teaching, assessment, and evaluation of students and learning differences

Research Aim: This research aims to analyse teaching methods, assessment, and evaluation systems of students and their learning differences

Topic 8: Social and psychological effects of virtual networks

Research Aim: This research aims to study the social and psychological effects of virtual networks

Topic 9: The role of media in provoking aggression

Research Aim: This research aims to address the role of media in provoking aggression among people

Psychology Dissertation Topics Behavioral Sciences

Topic 1: assessing the advantages and disadvantages of positive reinforcement in special education.

Research Aim: The strength and importance of praise in the workplace can have a significant impact on employees and move them from apathy to more happiness and satisfaction. Positive reinforcement motivates and encourages people for their respective tasks. This research aims to assess the advantages and disadvantages of positive reinforcement in special education.

Topic 2: Assessing the relationship between depression and anxiety from the perspective of student academic performance

Research Aim: Emotional disturbance is considered to be a psychological element that can lead to the deterioration of the daily activities of students. Since academic achievements are an integral dimension of students’ lives, depression, anxiety, and other emotional disturbance might lead to poor academic performance. Therefore, this research aims to assess the relationship between depression and anxiety on student academic performance.

Topic 3: How cognitive behaviour therapy helps in dealing with depressed adolescents

Research Aim: Cognitive behavioural theory is regarded as a well-established therapy for depression and other various mental illnesses in children and adolescents. It might be because CBT can reduce suicidal behaviour and thoughts among adolescents. The main purpose of this research is to identify how cognitive behaviour therapy can help in dealing with depressed adolescents.

Topic 4: Analysing the psychological impact of bullying on children’s personality and development

Research Aim: Any public humiliation can result in a child’s misconceptions, confusion and misunderstanding about their own personality and the surrounding world. Public humiliation can damage the psychology of children and hinder their overall physical and mental development. The key purpose of this study is to analyse the psychological impact of bullying on children’s personalities and development.

Topic 5: Assessing the impact of psychological pricing on consumer purchase intention

Research Aim: Psychological pricing, also known as charm pricing and price ending, is a market pricing strategy in which certain prices can have a psychological impact on consumers. This strategy also includes a slightly less than round number, e.g. 2.99, which could incline consumers to make purchase decisions in favour of the seller. Hence, this research aims to assess the impact of psychological pricing on consumer purchase intention.

Topic 6: Borderline Personality Disorder and Self-Cutting Behaviors – Are they Inter Related?

Research Aim: Borderline Personality Disorder is a mental health disorder that impacts the thinking process of an individual. This disorder impacts the way you think and feel about yourself and others. Relationships are unstable. There are extreme emotions and distorted self-image when a person is suffering from a borderline personality disorder. This research will discuss this disorder in detail and evaluate whether self-cutting behaviours are a result of this disorder or not.

Topic 7: Depression and its risk factors – How can it be prevented?

Research Aim: Depression is a psychological issue that needs immediate attention. There are a lot of factors that lead to depression. This research will talk about the various risk factors that contribute to depression in an individual. The research will also discuss ways and strategies through which depression can be managed and eliminated in some cases. Case studies will be a part of this research.

Topic 8: Childhood trauma and its long-lasting impacts on individuals in adulthood

Research Aim: This research will talk about an important issue i.e. childhood trauma. This includes emotional and physical trauma that a child had experienced in his childhood. This research will discuss whether this trauma will impact the individual further in his life or not. If an adult’s future life is likely to be affected by childhood trauma, then in what ways will it change the individual, and how will it shape his personality? All these questions will be answered with this research.

Organisational Psychology Dissertation Topics

The role of industrial psychologists, also known as organisational psychologists, is to apply the principles of psychology to marketing, sales, management, administration, and human resources problems that organisations face.

Typical tasks that organisational psychologists perform include but are not limited to organisational development and analysis, training and development, employee evaluation and selection, policymaking, and more. The following dissertation topics are developed with respect to organisational psychology:

Topic 1: Research in industrial and organisational psychology from 1980 to 2015: Changes, choices, and trends

Research Aim: This research will compare the choices, trends, and changes in industrial and organisational psychology. The years compared will be 1990-2000, 2001-2010, and 2011-2020.

Topic 2: Computerized adaptive testing in industrial and organisational psychology

Research Aim: This research will explore advanced techniques, i.e., computerised adaptive testing, in organisational and industrial psychology.

Topic 3: Leader-member exchange as a moderating variable in the relationship between well-being and job security

Research Aim: This research will analyse the leader-member exchange as a variable that moderates the relationship between job security and well-being.

Topic 4: Intelligent leadership and leadership competencies – Developing a leadership framework for intelligent organizations

Research Aim: This research will understand leadership competencies and intelligent leadership by analysing a leadership framework for intelligent organisations.

Topic 5: Burnout amongst executive staff: What are the main predictors? A review of literature from the UK and Europe.

Research Aim: This research will talk about the most pressing issue at workplaces right now, i.e. burnout, The study will include predictors of burnout by analysing literature from Europe and the UK.

Topic 6: Interior design and Industrial psychology – Investigating the role of employees' reward and motivation in shaping up the look of the factory or office

Research Aim: This research will understand the role of employee reward and motivation in shaping workplaces with a focus on how interior design can create a working environment for employees that enhances their motivation levels.

Topic 7: Investigating the impact of strategic business partnering for business organisations – A case study of any UK based company

Research Aim: This research will talk about the impact of strategic business partnering for business organisations. You can provide us with the name of the company you would want to base your research on.

Topic 8: Social science strategies for managing diversity: Industrial and organisational opportunities to enhance inclusion

Research Aim: This research will interrogate an extremely important issue of psychology, i.e., diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The study will be conducted with respect to social science strategies.

Topic 9: Studying Influencing Factors in Effective Training Programs in Organisations

Research Aim: This research will talk about the various psychological factors that influence training programs organised by companies.

Topic 10: To understand international branding in light of the concept of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions

Research Aim: This research will aim to understand international branding in light of the concept of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The research will be descriptive in nature and make use of secondary data.

How Can ResearchProspect Help?

ResearchProspect writers can send several custom topic ideas to your email address. Once you have chosen a topic that suits your needs and interests, you can order for our dissertation outline service which will include a brief introduction to the topic, research questions , literature review , methodology , expected results , and conclusion . The dissertation outline will enable you to review the quality of our work before placing the order for our full dissertation writing service !

Clinical Psychology Dissertation Topics

Clinical psychology can be defined as integrating clinical knowledge, theory, and science to understand and prevent psychologically based dysfunction and distress. Another aim of this branch of psychology is to promote personal development and behavioural well-being.

Clinical psychologists’ job responsibilities include conducting research, teaching, drug and alcohol treatment, assessing disorders, testifying in legal settings, and creating and managing programs to prevent and treat social problems.

A well-written dissertation in this area of psychology can help students to fetch a high academic grade. Here are some interesting topics in this area:

Topic 1: Which clinical and demographic factors predict poor insight in individuals with obsessions and compulsions?

Research Aim: This research will discuss the clinical and demographic factors that predict poor insight within individuals with compulsions and obsessions.

Topic 2: Anger beliefs and behaviour; An Investigation of associations with Hypomania in a non-clinical sample

Research Aim: This research will investigate anger, behaviour, and beliefs concerning hypomania in a non-clinical sample.

Topic 3: Clinical psychologists’ experiences of accessing personal therapy during training: A narrative analysis

Research Aim: This research will discuss clinical psychologists’ experiences of accessing personal therapy during training. This will be a narrative analysis.

Topic 4: Exploring body image and identity in people who have had a heart or lung transplant

Research Aim: This research will help explore the identity and body image of people who have had a heart or lung transplant. All related issues will be discussed in this study.

Topic 5: Psychosocial adjustment to renal failure and consequent dialysis

Research Aim: This research will explore the psychosocial adjustment required during renal failure. The study will also discuss dialysis, which will result in renal failure.

Topic 6: Experiences of psychosocial formulation within a biopsychosocial model of care for psychosis

Research Aim: This research will talk about psychosocial formulation experiences within a biopsychosocial model of care for psychosis.

Topic 7: Experiences and their association with eating behaviour in adulthood

Research Aim: This research will investigate the relationship between individual experiences and eating behaviour in adulthood. The study will furthermore present suggestions as to how these conditions can be improved.

Topic 8: Barriers to communicating about sexual dysfunction following heart trauma

Research Aim: This research will talk about an important issue i.e. sexual dysfunction. However, the study will be conducted concerning the issue being developed due to heart trauma.

Topic 9: Validation of a new scale assessing the use of strategies to change another person’s mood or emotional state

Research Aim: This research will investigate and try to validate a new scale that will be used to assess strategies for changing another person’s emotional state or mood.

Topic 10: Examining Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) within a cognitive framework

Research Aim: This research will investigate an important psychological issue, i.e. depression. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) will be assessed with a cognitive framework.

Also Read: Construction Engineering Dissertation Topics

Cognitive Psychology Dissertation Topics

Cognitive Psychology can be defined as the study of mental processes such as thinking, creativity, problem solving, perception, memory, language use, and attention through neuropsychology, computer modeling, and experimentation.

Cognitive psychologists are primarily responsible for investigating how the human brain absorbs and interprets information at micro and macro levels. This area of psychology is broad. Therefore you will have many topic options to choose from. Please see below some titles if you are looking to base your dissertation on the field of cognitive psychology.

Topic 1: Adolescent perceptions and beliefs of proactive-reactive aggression explored through the social information processing model of aggression

Research Aim: This research will talk about various perceptions and beliefs of adolescents with respect to proactive-reactive aggression. These will be explored through the social information processing model of aggression.

Topic 2: Analysing how cognitive flexibility is influenced by emotions

Research Aim: This research will analyse how emotions influence the cognitive flexibility of individuals.

Topic 3: Tractable cognition: The role of complexity theory in cognitive psychology

Research Aim: This research will discuss tractable cognition. The study will discuss the role of complexity theory in cognitive psychology.

Topic 4: Conflict monitoring across sensory modalities

Research Aim: This research will discuss conflict monitoring during sensory modalities. The study will talk about various conflict monitoring methods.

Topic 5: Familiarity and its effect on facial expression recognition?

Research Aim: This research will discuss the concept of familiarity and its impact on facial expression recognition.

Topic 6: Investigating the relationship between cognitive vulnerability and depression

Research Aim: This research will investigate the relationship between depression and cognitive vulnerability.

Topic 7: Effectiveness of mindfulness training on ratings of perceived stress, mindfulness, and well-being of adolescents enrolled in an international baccalaureate diploma program

Research Aim: This research will discuss the effectiveness of mindfulness training on ratings of well-being and perceived stress in adolescents. The participants of this research will be international baccalaureate diploma students.

Topic 8: Assessing the development of implicit intergroup cognition in relation to in-groups and out-groups: social learning or pre-specified?

Research Aim: This research will assess the development of implicit intergroup cognition with respect to out-groups and in-groups. The study will conclude whether this development classifies as social learning or is pre-specified.

Topic 9: Assessing the relationship between impaired social cognition, emotion, and anxiety disorders.

Research Aim: This research will discuss the relationship between emotion, anxiety disorders, and impaired social cognition.

Topic 10: Investigating the relationship between episodic memory and emotional memory

Research Aim: This research will investigate the relationship between emotional memory and episodic memory and the underlying causes.

Also Read : Project Management Dissertation Topics

Order a Proposal

Worried about your dissertation proposal? Not sure where to start?

• Choose any deadline
• Plagiarism free
• Unlimited free amendments
• Free anti-plagiarism report
• Completed to match exact requirements

• Social Psychology Dissertation Topics

This branch of psychology has gained tremendous importance in the world of academia in recent times. Essentially, it deals with social interactions, including their influence on the individuals and their origin.

According to Baron, Byrne, and Sulls (1989), “the scientific field seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behaviour in social situations.”

Therefore, it would not be wrong to say that social psychology primarily investigates how human behaviour can influence other people and the surrounding social environment. Some relevant social psychology dissertation topics are listed below:

Topic 1: Cognitive, affective, and social psychological correlates of psychopathic personality traits in offenders and non-offenders

Research Aim: This research will address cognitive, affective, and social-psychological correlations of psychopathic personality traits in offenders and non-offenders.

Topic 2: A social-psychological exploration of word-of-mouth traveller information in the digital age

Research Aim: This research will explore the word of mouth exchange of traveller information in today’s age with a social-psychological perspective.

Topic 3: Investigating the concept of contemporary social and cultural psychology

Research Aim: This research will investigate the concept of contemporary social and cultural psychology.

Topic 4: Methods for social psychological research: fundamental qualitative and fundamental quantitative methods.

Research Aim: This will be an interesting study. The research will explore two major social psychological research methods; the fundamental qualitative method and the fundamental quantitative method.

Topic 5: The impact of gender mistakes on various individual attitudes and behaviours that contribute to gender inequality

Research Aim: This research will explore the impact of gender issues on different individual attitudes and behaviours. Moreover, the study will assess their impact and contribution to increasing gender inequality.

Topic 6: Personality, passion, self-esteem and psychological well-being among junior elite athletes in the UK

Research Aim: This research will study the psychological well-being of junior athletes in the UK. This includes assessing their personality, passion, and self-esteem.

Topic 7: Mad, bad, or dangerous? Assessing changing social attitudes to mental illness through a study of magazine and TV advertising.

Research Aim: This research will assess the changing social attitudes to mental illness by studying TV and magazine advertising. The study will focus on the impact of these advertisements on the mental health of the audience.

Topic 8: Use of images of women in corporate website branding – The role of gender, marketing, and internet presence

Research Aim: This research will assess the use of women’s images in website branding. The study will evaluate and analyse the role of gender, marketing, and internet presence.

Topic 9: How the use of music can help to reduce crime rate – A quantitative study of underground tube stations in London

Research Aim: The study will focus on an ignored socio-psychological aspect i.e. music. The research will assess how music helps to reduce the crime rate. A quantitative study covering underground tube stations will be conducted.

Topic 10: The enduring legacy of cognitive dissonance

Research Aim: This research will talk about the history of cognitive dissonance. It will also discuss its enduring legacy.

Also Read: Sociology Dissertation Topics

Abnormal Psychology Dissertation Topics

The abnormal patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behaviour that may lead to mental disorders are studied under the abnormal psychology branch of psychology. But what is an abnormality, and who decides what abnormal behaviour is? Historically, societies have been quick to observe and tag individuals as abnormal when they encounter situations that they cannot understand.

Abnormal psychologists are responsible for identifying the human characteristics that deviate from the norm. This branch of psychology can interest students who wish to explore unusual human behaviour and unusual conditions. The following topics on abnormal psychology can help to ease the dissertation topic selection process for your thesis project:

Topic 1: Assessing and Investigating the concepts of abnormality and mental health

Research Aim: This research will discuss the basics of abnormality and mental health. The literature review will cover the various mental health conditions and what leads them to these issues.

Topic 2: A neuropsychological investigation of frontal brain asymmetry in depression with comorbid anxiety

Research Aim: This research will investigate a neuropsychological issue, i.e., frontal brain asymmetry in depression with comorbid anxiety.

Topic 3: What is the relationship between children’s home routines and treatment for ADHD? A study of the literature

Research Aim: This research will talk about a common yet ignored issue, ADHD. The study will explore the relationship between children’s home routines and treatment procedures.

Topic 4: Investigating the relationship between depression and diet – A qualitative study of how the Mediterranean diet can help to lower depression levels

Research Aim: This research will investigate an interesting relationship – between depression and diet. The study will also explore how the Mediterranean diet can help reduce levels of depression.

Topic 5: Promoting mental health and psychological wellbeing in children: A socio-cultural activity theory analysis of professional contributions and learning in a multidisciplinary team

Research Aim: This research will aim to promote mental health and psychological well-being in children. The study will be based on a socio-cultural activity theory analysis of professional contributions and learning in a multidisciplinary team.

Topic 6: A critical inquiry into the views of professionals working with families, parents, and children.

Research Aim: This research will help conduct a critical inquiry into the views of professionals working with parents, families, and children.

Topic 7: Exploring ways of managing stress and coping with poor mental health

Research Aim: This research will help to explore stress and coping issues amongst individuals with poor mental health.

Topic 8: The role of positive irrational beliefs in mental health & wellbeing

Research Aim: This research will talk about the positive role of irrational beliefs associated with mental health and wellbeing.

Topic 9: To understand and establish the relationship between social media websites and self-harm in adolescent females

Research Aim: This research will aim to understand and establish the relationship between social media websites and self-harm in adolescent females.

Topic 10: A biographical narrative study exploring mental ill-health through the life course

Research Aim: This will be a biographical narrative study that will explore the mental illness issues that may cause difficulties in the course of life.

Hire an Expert Writer

Orders completed by our expert writers are

• Formally drafted in an academic style
• Free Amendments and 100% Plagiarism Free – or your money back!
• 100% Confidential and Timely Delivery!
• Appreciated by thousands of clients. Check client reviews

Developmental and Educational Psychology Dissertation Topics

According to Kendra Cherry (2001), “Educational psychology involves the study of how people learn, including topics such as student outcomes, the instructional process, individual differences in learning, gifted learners and learning disabilities.” This branch of psychology considers not only the learning process but also the social and emotional aspects of development.

Developmental and educational psychologists are responsible for designing professional development programmes, evaluating programmes and interventions, designing training programmes, consulting with groups and individuals, counselling, designing effective treatment programmes, assessing developmental learning and behavioural problems among individuals, diagnosing disabilities and disorders, and identifying and clarifying problems.

Here’s a list of developmental and educational psychology dissertation topics for you to choose from:

Topic 1: Investigating parents’ concerns with a child’s development: A Case Study

Research Aim: This research will investigate the concerns of parents related to child development. A specific case will be examined in this research.

Topic 2: To examine the parent-child relationship issues

Research Aim: This research will explore the issues related to the parent-child bond. Solutions will also be provided as to how these should be tackled.

Topic 3: Managing a child’s difficult temperament or behaviour

Research Aim: This research will help parents understand how they can manage a child who has a difficult temperament.

Topic 4: How educational psychologists can assist a child with disabilities

Research Aim: This research will explore how educational psychologists help in assisting disabled children.

Topic 5: Exploring the causes of sibling rivalries in the family: Studying How These can Be Tackled.

Research Aim: This research will explore the causes behind sibling rivalries in families and will also suggest how these can be controlled.

Topic 6: Problems parents, teachers, and children may face in the transition from early childhood to school years

Research Aim: This study will explore issues and problems parents, teachers, and children face in the transition from early childhood to school years.

Topic 7: Exploring the impact of consultation on educational psychology service users, including pupils, teachers, and parents

Research Aim: This research will explore the impacts of consultation on educational psychology services which include pupils, teachers, and parents.

Topic 8: The development of the theory of mind in deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing preschool children

Research Aim: This research will talk about the developmental theory of mind in deaf people, hard of hearing, and hearing of preschool children.

Topic 9: Cultural differences and perceptions of autism among school psychologists

Research Aim: This research will talk about the cultural differences and perceptions of autism amongst school psychologists.

Topic 10: High school special education teachers’ use of positive behaviour: Effects of a behaviour prompting routine on specific praise rates

Research Aim: This research will discuss the use of positive behaviour by high school special education teachers. Furthermore, the dissertation will also study the impact of behaviour that prompts a routine for specific praise rates.

Related Links:

• Cognitive psychology dissertationtopics
• Educational psychology dissertation topics
• Clinical psychology dissertation topics
• Counselling psychology dissertation topics
• Forensic-psychology-dissertation-topics
• Criminal Psychology Dissertation Ideas
• Sports Psychology Dissertation Ideas
• Neuro Psychology Dissertation Ideas
• Consumer Psychology Dissertation Ideas

Important Notes:

As a psychology student looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment with existing psychology theories – i.e., to add value and interest to your research topic.

Psychology is vast and interrelated with so many other academic disciplines. That is why it is imperative to create a psychology dissertation topic that is particular, sound, and actually solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic based on your entire research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your topic wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, and there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in writing your dissertation as you may end up in the cycle of rejection at the initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

Keeping our advice in mind while developing a research topic will allow you to pick one of the best psychology dissertation topics that fulfil your requirement of writing a research paper and adds to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalising your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and be practically implemented. Please look at some of our sample psychology dissertation topics to get an idea for your own dissertation.

How to Structure Your Psychology Dissertation

A well-structured dissertation can help students to achieve a high overall academic grade.

• A Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Declaration
• Abstract: A summary of the research completed
• Table of Contents
• Introduction : This chapter includes the project rationale, research background, key research aims and objectives, and the research problems. An outline of the structure of a dissertation can also be added to this chapter.
• Literature Review : This chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analyzing published and unpublished literature on the chosen research topic to address research questions . The purpose is to highlight and discuss the selected research area’s relative weaknesses and strengths while identifying any research gaps. Break down the topic and key terms that can positively impact your dissertation and your tutor.
• Methodology : The data collection and analysis methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter, which usually includes research design , research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and data analysis strategy .
• Findings and Analysis : Findings of the research are analysed in detail under the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include graphs, charts, and tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
• Discussion and Conclusion : The researcher presents his interpretation of the results in this chapter and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section is establishing the link between the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regard to the implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
• References : Make sure to complete this following your University’s requirements
• Bibliography
• Appendices : Any additional information, diagrams, and graphs used to complete the dissertation but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

About ResearchProspect Ltd

ResearchProspect is a  UK based academic writing service  that provides help with  Dissertation Proposal Writing ,  Ph.D. Proposal Writing ,  Dissertation Writing ,  Dissertation Editing, and Improvement .

Our team of writers is highly qualified. They are experts in their respective fields. They have been working for us for a long time. Thus, they are well aware of the issues and the trends of the subject in which they specialise.

Need more Topics.?

Review Our Best Dissertation Topics complete list.

Free Dissertation Topic

Phone Number

Academic Level Select Academic Level Undergraduate Graduate PHD

Academic Subject

Area of Research

Frequently Asked Questions

How to find psychology dissertation topics.

To discover Psychology dissertation topics:

• Explore recent research and journals.
• Identify emerging areas or gaps.
• Consider personal interests or experiences.
• Discuss with professors or experts.
• Analyse real-world issues and applications.
• Choose a topic that excites and challenges you.

You May Also Like

We have put together a list of the 45 top and interesting dissertation topics on diabetes curated by professionals for diabetes dissertation and research.

The purpose of advertising is to promote or sell goods and services to consumers. Marketing communication that uses print, audio, visual, and online channels to persuade people to make a purchase.

Need interesting and manageable finance and accounting dissertation topics or thesis? Here are the trending finance and accounting dissertation titles so you can choose the most suitable one.

USEFUL LINKS

LEARNING RESOURCES

COMPANY DETAILS

• How It Works

Thesis Helpers

Find the best tips and advice to improve your writing. Or, have a top expert write your paper.

172 Awesome Psychology Dissertation Topics For High Scores

An ideal dissertation topic should be clear, manageable, original, and relevant to your academic discipline. Primarily, the case ought to have enough information that will help you support your arguments. Unfortunately, many college and university students have difficulty coming up with exceptional topics, considering how detailed and time-consuming the brainstorming process can be.

On the bright side, we have the best psychology dissertation ideas to get you underway. If you are hungry for exceptional psychology dissertation topics, this article features over 170 hand-picked views to whet your appetite. Read on to get a taste of what we have to offer:

Dissertation Topics In Educational Psychology

• Discuss the measures that can help children with an anxiety disorder improve their performance in tests
• A qualitative study of how the concept of reflective practice can be in childhood learning
• Examine whether identifying a child’s learning style can help to improve outcomes
• Elaborate whether the attachment theory can explain the development of a subjective self in the child
• Explain the causes of increased anorexia rate in children
• Elaborate how operant conditioning works
• Define learning in educational psychology
• What brings about achievement gaps?
• Examine how listening to music affects a child’s cognitive skills
• Discuss the link between self-esteem and academic success
• Evaluate the importance of showing affection to children
• Examine if homosexuality is a psychological disorder
• Discuss fetishes and their related behavior
• Define childhood trauma and outline its effects

Dissertation Topics In Counseling Psychology

• Discuss the concept of attention span among children
• What is the distinction between explicit and implicit memory?
• Discuss language and speech development in children
• What is the role of color psychology in cognitive development studies?
• Which factors affect one’s problem-solving ability?
• What is the link between temperament and creativity?
• Explain how marriage alters your personality
• What is the relationship between prosaical behavior and personality?
• Is there any link between your choice of pet and your personality

Dissertation Topics In Industrial Psychology

• What are the psychological consequences of a hate crime?
• Discuss the role of psychologists in military interrogations
• Explain the psychological impacts of a miscarriage on a couple
• What are the effects of abortion on the emotional and mental well-being of women?
• Elaborate why attractive people often tend to have the upper hand at work
• What is the impact of homelessness on mental health?
• Elaborate whether there is a difference between depression in females and males
• Analyze the relationship between working memory and attention
• Explore the relationship between television and obesity
• Evaluate the role of the family in the socialization process of a child
• Effects of laughter on your emotional and physical health
• Discuss gender role and identity in children
• What are the health benefits of dreams?
• Elaborate the impact of dreams on one’s social life
• Do violent fantasies have any meaning in real life?

Psychology Thesis Topics List

• Examine what the Stroop effect says about one’s mind
• Analyze whether excessive social media use is comparable to drug addiction
• Is there are a link between your music taste and your personality?
• What effects does music have on your psychological response?
• How do colors affect a child’s learning?
• What are the best strategies to manage loss and grief?
• Discuss effective programs that can curb suicide among students
• Explain why depression seems to be more in women than in men
• Assess the most effective communication techniques with patients
• In what ways can breast cancer patients manage stress?
• Explain the neurobiology behind suicidal thoughts
• What factors contribute to deviant behavior in the workplace?
• Discuss mood disorders among young adults
• Elaborate how lying impacts your mental health
• How does age affect your memory?
• Explain the difference between the midlife crisis in men and women
• Highlight different ways to cope with grief
• What influence does genetics have on social relationships?
• Review the theory of behavioral game
• Elaborate how the frontal cortex executive function makes every human unique
• Evaluate a modular account of the brain by Fodor in the light of modern neuroscientific research
• Discuss the first signs of ADHD among children and adults
• To what degree can there be a change of personality over some time?
• Outline the mental and physical effects of marijuana use among healthy adults
• Define and discuss the theory of memory models
• Investigate how internet pornography impacts a generation of users
• Highlight the link between easy access to therapy and socio-economic status
• Explain the multiple dimensions of schizophrenia
• Look at the link between educational attainment level and self-motivation
• Investigate cults as social constructs
• What is the involvement of mood in the use of language?
• Analyze the effects of frequent exposure to computers on the proper development of attention
• Examine how a talent affect a sportsman’s popularity
• How does intelligence influence committed crimes?
• What are the pros and cons of cross-cultural relationships?
• Highlight the influence of social pressure on an individual’s morale
• Review the cognitive-behavioral theory
• Explain the link between mental games and a child’s cognitive skills
• Elaborate the role of sex hormones in the development of the brain during the puberty stage
• An overview of deep engagement relationship and friendship
• What is the difference between clinical and abnormal psychology

Mental Health Dissertation Topics

• A study of long term psychological effects of divorce on the adult children of divorcees
• What sort of mental health problems do prisoners face?
• Discuss the link between mental health and unemployment
• Examine how deteriorating mental health affects one’s physical health
• Address effects of television advertisements in the cognitive development of children in the U.S
• Investigate the role of social media friendships on deteriorating mental health
• Analyze the impact of emotional attachment on your mental well being
• Explain the impact of breakups on a man’s mental health
• How does social media play out in provoking aggression?
• What are the psychological and social impacts of virtual networks?
• Address the psychological impact of cyberbullying
• Discuss mental health and psychological resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic

Psychology Research Questions

• Examine different types of learning disabilities and how to manage them
• What is the link between performance and job satisfaction?
• Detail the effects f romantic jealousy in maintaining a committed relationship
• Analyze the role of anxiety in hyperalgesia
• Review the factors that influence ineffective training organization
• Examine dating violence and controlling issues affecting women
• Investigate stress responses in survivors of sexual abuse
• A case study of the attachment theory as it applies to family relationships
• Discuss impacts of ambiguity and job roles on behavioral disorders
• Address the effects of behavioral therapy on body image and weight loss
• What are the results of maternal stress on language acquisition among children?

Forensic Psychology Dissertation Ideas

• Which rules should psychologists follow when verbally interacting with criminals in court?
• Elaborate the credibility of the statement of a mentally challenged eyewitness
• What is the legitimacy and reliability of an eyewitness’s memory?
• What rules of conduct should be followed by forensic psychologists while in court?
• Discuss the role of upbringing in curbing the making of a serial killer
• Define internet policing and explain some valuable strategies to make it effective
• What is the role of video games, movies, and the internet in augmenting copycat crimes?
• Elaborate why society tends to neglect domestic violence inflicted on men
• What drives people into mass killings, and why is it so rampant in the U.S?
• Are there enough measures to reduce the risks of folks in special education ending up in the penal system?
• Explain how a role in law enforcement impacts an individual’s private life?
• Juvenile murders: Point out the factors that affect areas with high rates of murders committed by children
• Are prisons and the criminal justice system effective in rehabilitation?
• Discuss the factors that have contributed to the emergence of home-grown terrorism

Social Psychology Dissertation Ideas

• What is the influence of automatic effects of priming on complex behavior in real-life situations?
• Evaluate the contribution of emotion and reason in moral judgment through the social intuitionist model
• Discuss the enduring legacy of cognitive dissonance
• What are the effects of spanking on a child’s psychology
• Explain the effects and causes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children
• Detail the reasons for antisocial behavior among young adults
• Discuss the early signs of a mental illness among infants
• Point out the leading causes of increased stress and depression in young adults
• Elaborate different types of torture, highlighting their impact on a child’s mind and adult life
• Explain the effects of video games and violent music on a child’s mind and behavior
• Examine different phases of a child’s growth and psychological development
• What effect does the birth order have on a child’s accomplishments and success?
• Detail the outcomes of a self-centered mother on a child’s mental health
• What are remedial and preventive measures that can curb childhood abuse?
• The introvert personality: What are the consequences of the introvert personality among children?
• Elaborate the relationship between negligence in parents and obesity among children
• Look into the psychological, ethical, and legal aspects of adoption

Clinical Psychology Dissertation Ideas

• Look into the major depressive disorder (MDD) within a cognitive framework
• Explain the barriers to communicating associated with sexual dysfunction following heart trauma
• What is the link between experiences and eating behavior among adults?
• Explore the concept of body image and identity among folks who have undergone a lung or heart transplant
• Highlight the demographic and clinical factors that predict insight in individuals with compulsions and obsessions
• Define schizophrenia and point out potential therapies
• What medication and treatments can treat paranoia and phobias?
• What therapies can treat anxiety disorder and panic attacks?
• Which medicines and therapies are effective in treating addictions?
• Discuss different clinical treatments for insomnia
• Examine the effectiveness of antidepressants in therapy treatments
• Explain the most effective practices utilized in treating depression
• What factors lead to post-traumatic stress disorder?
• Are antidepressants addictive? Discuss their effectiveness and potential side effects
• Is behavioral therapy the best treatment for criminals?
• In what ways can psychology be used to manage chronic pain?

Exciting Ideas For A Psychology Dissertation

• Elaborate how a sleeping disorder affects a sportsman’s stamina
• Discuss the prevalence of panic attacks in athletes and point out effective ways to combat them
• What are the potential adverse effects of steroids on the mental health of an athlete
• Highlight the significance of sports psychology in promoting mental health
• Which methods can athletes use to manage and control their negative emotions appropriately?
• Define the term team chemistry and explain how it can build a sound, supportive team

Dissertation Ideas Psychology

• Examine how group belonging influences a person’s behavior
• Explain how physical exercise can manage mood swings
• Define the link between psychology and mythology
• Discuss the basic techniques utilized in psychological research
• Look at compliance and obedience as a function of social status
• Highlight different ways to control aggression among youths
• What are the effects and causes of dehumanization in prisons across the U.S
• Analyze how human cloning can be a solution to childless couples
• Explain the concept of a double foot-in door and how it can manipulate someone
• Define the term Mood Freezing and elaborate its effects
• Is it true that geniuses are made and not born?
• What is the connection between the use of social media and the spike in cases of violence among young adults?
• Examine the impact of breakfast on a person’s overall day to day activities
• Revisit notorious human experiments in history and their ethical shortcomings
• Explain how different colors can enhance a person’s mood
• Explain the factors that contribute to dissociative orders
• Define the difference between mental disorders and mood disorders

Psychology Dissertation Help By Your Side

If you are looking to write a thought-provoking and valuable dissertation for your Ph.D., you have the perfect starting point, thanks to our unique topic ideas. However, if you still find putting together a quality dissertation difficult, there is another incredible option. At a cheap and pocket-friendly rate, you can quickly get expert writers for hire. Indeed, with the internet, it is possible to get high-quality writing help online.

It is high time you had a professional handle your most challenging assignments while focusing on other crucial areas of your studies.

Make PhD experience your own

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *