1 / 23

Work environment correlates of WAI

Work environment correlates of WAI. R. J. Mykletun and T. Furunes. "Contemporary Problems of Prolonging Work Ability. Age Management: Extending the Work Life" October 9-10, 2008. Tallinn. Purpose. This study tests a four item version of the Work Ability Index (WAI-4) and relates the scale to:

roanna-moon
Télécharger la présentation

Work environment correlates of WAI

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Work environment correlates of WAI R. J. Mykletun and T. Furunes "Contemporary Problems of Prolonging Work Ability.Age Management: Extending the Work Life"October 9-10, 2008. Tallinn

  2. Purpose • This study tests a four item version of the Work Ability Index (WAI-4) and relates the scale to: • Perceived work environment factors as measured by the QPS-Nordic ADW, and • Other psychological factors related to work • Work and life satisfaction • Perceived stress • Organisational Commitment • Self-efficacy • Ageing well at work, and • Health related behaviour (sick leave) • Demographics (age and gender)

  3. Previous research on WAI and work environment factors - 1 • Ilmarinen (2005): Finland, national representative sample, n=3774. WAI relates to: • Mental strain (highest effect) • Physical demands • Supervisory support • Joy of work, enthusiasm • Competence • Camerino et al (2005): Six European countries, nurses, n=27146. WAI relates to: • High job demands and harassment • Job control had buffering effect only for younger nurses • Estryn-Behar et al (2005): French nurses, n=4306. WAI related to: • Work demands, uncertainty, collegial support, uneven and high work pace • Dissatisfaction with physical working conditions and work postures

  4. Previous research on WAI and work environment factors - 2 • Freude et al. (2005): German female teachers, n=100. WAI relates to • efforts – rewards balance at work • Goedhard & Goedhard (2005): Dutch army servants, n=144. WAI relates to • Stress defined by boredom, lack of support, quantitative overload, qualitative overload, salary and physical working conditions • Bugajska & Lastowiecka (2005): Polish cross-occupational sample, n=1485. WAI relates to • Collegial support, work pace, time for breaks

  5. Background – few published studies report scale properties • Torgen, 2005: Swedish sample, n=3493 • Ten item questionnaire version of WAI grouped to seven scores • Factor analysis showed homogeneity (one factor) • “Ceiling effect” and unstable correlations of items to sum-score for healthy workforce and for younger male workers for three scores • Gender differences, increasing average over time? • Geissler et al (2005): German home care workers, n=126 • WAI score influenced by interviewer’s profession • Radkiewcz & Widerzahl-Bazyl (2005): NEXT-study in nine European countries, n=38000 • Seven item questionnaire version • Factor structures (1 – 2) vary across national samples • Alpha coefficient varies across national samples from .54 to 79; average Alpha = .72 • Predictive validity (health, burnout)

  6. Background – different versions of the WAI in use • Different scales used • Full version with medical doctor examination • Ten item questionnaire version grouped to seven subscales (Torgen, 2005; Seibt et al, 2005) • Seven item questionnaire version (Radkiewcz & Widerzahl-Bazyl, 2005) • “Short version” (Geissler et al, 2005) • One item “What is your work ability compared to your life-time best” (e.g., Nygård et al, 2005)

  7. Design and sample – present study • Data were collected by the QPS-Nordic ADW (Nordic Questionnaire for monitoring the Age Diverse Workforce) • Sample: 1050 randomly selected teachers in Norway • Response rate = 39 percent • 34% males, 66% females • Age ranges: 24 – 70 years (M=52)

  8. QPS-Nordic ADW (Nordic Questionnaire for monitoring the Age Diverse Workforce)(Pahkin, Björklund, Mykletun, Furunes, Gard & Lindström, 2008)

  9. WAI-4 sum-score properties

  10. Distribution four-items WAI-4 sum-score

  11. Ageing well at work (AWAW) sum-score properties

  12. Distribution five items “Ageing well at work” sum-score

  13. Self-efficacy sum-score properties

  14. Distribution of Self-efficacy sum-score

  15. Satisfaction sum-score properties

  16. Distribution of satisfaction sum-score

  17. QPSNordic-AWD Work environment correlates of WAI-4 Quant dem Age discrim Harassment .00 .10* .26*** .13* .05 LMX HR primacy Relative age .02 .21*** Decis dem WAI-4 sum-score .18*** .18*** Soc climate Learn dem .26*** Pred 2 years Role clarity .08 -.15** .24*** Fair leader Pred change Role confl Pred change .14** .06 Control wp Fair leader .22*** -.12* .13* -.11* Co-work support Superv support Empowerment Control dec

  18. Psychological, demographic and behavioural correlates of Work Ability sum-score Ageing well at work .42*** Age .55*** -.21*** Self efficacy .18*** Gender Commitment .02ns WAI sum-score .33*** Satisfaction .35*** Motivation .13 ns Planned exit age -.30*** -.39*** Sick leave Stress

  19. Predicting Work Ability sum score

  20. Conclusions – 1 • Work environment factors relate to ability as measured by WAI-4, but correlations are low to moderate • Social factors, discrimination, support • Change and lack of predictability • Learning demands • Leadership, control, role conflict • In the multiple regression, the work environment factors explain 16 % of the WAI-4 variance • Psychological factors relate more strongly to ability as measured by WAI-4 • Self-efficacy, ageing well at work, motivation • Stress, satisfaction • Sick leave and age relate to ability as measured by WAI-4

  21. Conclusions – 2 The relationships between the various work environment factors and ability as measured by the WAI-4 become less significant when controlled for • Self-efficacy • Ageing well at work • Stress • Control over decisions remains significantly related to ability as measured by the WAI-4 • These psychological factors account for 17 % of the WAI-4 variance • In this model, • Sick leave has a separate effect, explaining additionally 5 %, without influencing other observed relationships • Age has a separate effect, explaining additionally 2 % of the WAI-4 variance • A total of 40 % of the WAI-4 variance was explained by this model

  22. Conclusions – 3 • The four item WAI version (WAI-4) has excellent scale properties • One factor – uni-dimensional • High reliability • The concept of Work Ability - as measured by the WAI-4 – has strong conceptual validity, representing also important psychological factors of high significance to coping and well-being at work • Further research should position the Work Ability concept to work environment, psychological factors and health variables on the same data • The study should be repeated across samples with different occupations and working conditions

  23. Thank you – questions and comments, please Reidar J. Mykletun University of Stavanger 4036 Stavanger, Norway Email to reimykle@gmail.com

More Related