Should I pet or should I work? Human-animal interactions and (tele)work engagement: an exploration of the underlying within-level mechanisms

Silva, Ana Junça

doi:10.1108/pr-09-2022-0588

Cited by 16 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 75 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our findings evidence that having a pet has significant differences regarding daily life at work, specifically, on the levels of negative affect and mental health and also on the frequency of daily micro-interruptions. The results are in line with other studies (e.g., Grajfoner et al, 2021) that showed that individuals own pets tend to be happier and healthier than individuals without pets (Beetz et al, 2012;Junça-Silva, 2022b). This might be explained by the increased number of families with pets, and by the increased value attributed to them (Wagner & Pina e Cunha, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Applying the Affective Events Theory to Explore the Effect of Daily Micro-Interruptions on Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Affect and the Moderating Role of Pets at Work

Junça Silva

2024

Span. J. Psychol.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study relied on the affective events theory and the social exchange theory to develop a framework that explains how situational factors (daily micro-interruptions) enhance affective reactions (negative affect) and, in turn, impair health conditions (mental health) at work. We further delineate theoretical arguments to propose the pet-human’s health effect by demonstrating that pets are boundary conditions that attenuate this relation, and as such are protective conditions for employees’ mental health. We conducted a 5-day diary study with two groups of participants, one with participants who owned pets (N = 82 x 5 = 410), and the other who did not own pets (N = 87 x 5 = 435). The multilevel results showed an indirect effect of daily micro-interruptions on individuals’ mental health through negative affect, with a daily backdrop of poorer mental health for those who did not own a pet (compared to those who owned a pet). These results evidence the benefits of owning a pet for individuals’ mental health, even at work, and as such provide recommendations for teleworking practices. Moreover, this study resorts to an innovative and robust data collection method to demonstrate the pet-human’ health effect. This study expands knowledge on the role of pets in working daily routines and shows that pets may be a personal resource for individuals while working.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…With the increase in teleworking, individuals who own pets may benefit from their presence while working (Junça-Silva, 2022b). In a recent study, Junça-Silva (2022c) demonstrated that pet-friendly practices improved organizational identification and led to enhanced psychological and subjective well-being.…”

Section: The Buffering Role Of Petsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying the Affective Events Theory to Explore the Effect of Daily Micro-Interruptions on Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Affect and the Moderating Role of Pets at Work

Junça Silva

2024

Span. J. Psychol.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Third, future research should also consider exploring the within-person fluctuations in motivation to transfer and how it impacts the trainee’s performance and adaptability to extreme situations or contexts. Within-person fluctuations are important because they translate the differences that occur in a given state or behavior from day to day (Junça-Silva, 2022); as such, conducting a daily diary study would be helpful to better understand it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Training under an extreme context: the role of organizational support and adaptability on the motivation transfer and performance after training

Junça Silva,

Pinto

2024

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeThe present study used the job-demands and resources (JD-R) framework to understand how the training is transferred to an extreme working context through the analysis of job and personal resources (social support from the leader and colleagues and adaptability). Specifically, the authors tested the mediating role of motivation to transfer in the relationship (1) between the perceived support from the supervisor and colleagues and performance after training and (2) between adaptability and performance in an extreme context of the pandemic crisis – the first peak of COVID-19 in Portugal. Further, an inspection of the factors that predicted knowledge transfer and adaptability under an extreme context was carried out.Design/methodology/approachTo do so, necessary training about the new safety rules regarding the pandemic crisis of COVID-19 was implemented in a healthcare institution as a strategy to help healthcare workers deal with the increasing uncertainty and complexity that was threatening their work. It consisted of three sessions (each with one hour of training) regarding procedures, rules and safety norms. The training occurred in May 2020. Overall, 291 healthcare workers participated in the study and answered one online questionnaire one week after training completion.FindingsThe results showed that the motivation to transfer had a significant indirect effect on the relationship between colleagues' and supervisors' support and performance and between adaptability and performance. Additionally, complementary analyses showed that the mediations depended on the levels of self-efficacy in such a way that the indirect relationships were stronger when self-efficacy was higher. Thus, adaptability and support, both from colleagues and the supervisor, are determining factors for knowledge transfer and resultant performance in extreme contexts, such as the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Lastly, the results showed that the most significant predictors of transference were self-efficacy and the motivation to transfer the learned knowledge. On the other hand, self-efficacy, peer support and the opportunity to use the knowledge were the most significant predictors of adaptability.Practical implicationsThese findings provide support for the role of employee motivation to transfer as a mechanism connecting both perceived support and adaptability to performance outcomes under extreme working contexts.Originality/valueThis study, conducted in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic context – an extreme and uncertain working context – shows the relevance of both job and individual factors to predict employees' adaptability to such contexts.

show abstract

“…It will be relevant to be aware of the situations in which poor sleep quality occurred. In these situations, it will be important for the worker to have the autonomy needed to develop recovery strategies throughout the day, for example, engaging in micro‐breaks (head petting the dog; Junça‐Silva, 2022), as these help with recovery of self‐regulatory resources (Kim et al, 2022). Similarly, watching videos, images, or humorous texts can alleviate the negative consequences linked to poor sleep quality and have restorative effects on employees (Ferrer et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the pandemic crisis experienced since 2020, there has been a significant increase in stress and anxiety levels (Junça-Silva & Silva, 2022), which has led to a consequent decrease in sleep quality, motivation, and performance (Rivkin et al, 2023). Sleep is a crucial daily recovery experience that significantly influences the individual's available resources (Barnes, 2012) and, as such, facilitates performance (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The intersectional effects of motivational and affective factors on managers' performance

Silva

Mendes

2023

Applied Psych Health & Well

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Drawing from the effort‐recovery model, the authors analyzed the role of daily sleep quality as a driver for self‐regulatory resources and consequently of task and contextual performance. Specifically, the authors hypothesized that self‐regulatory resources would be a potential mechanism for enhancing workers' performance after a good night's sleep. Moreover, relying on the COR theory, the authors proposed health‐related indicators (mental health and vitality) as intensifiers of the previously proposed indirect effect. Daily diary data were collected from 97 managers over five consecutive working days (485 daily observations) and analyzed using multilevel analyses. Sleep quality was positively associated with managers' self‐regulatory resources and (task and contextual) performance at the person and day levels. Additionally, results provided support for most of the assumed indirect effects of sleep quality on both performance dimensions via self‐regulatory resources. At last, the findings evidenced that these indirect effects were moderated by health indicators in a way that lower scores on health intensified such positive effects. Organizations should create mechanisms that could promote their workers' awareness of the potential benefits of sleeping well at night as well as its impacts on both self‐regulatory resources and performance. The current intensification of workload together with working after hours may pose a risk to this important resource source for managers. These findings emphasize the day‐to‐day variation in self‐regulatory resources needed to perform and that workers' sleep quality has the potential to stimulate a resource‐building process for such benefits.

show abstract

Should I pet or should I work? Human-animal interactions and (tele)work engagement: an exploration of the underlying within-level mechanisms

Cited by 16 publications

References 75 publications

Applying the Affective Events Theory to Explore the Effect of Daily Micro-Interruptions on Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Affect and the Moderating Role of Pets at Work

Applying the Affective Events Theory to Explore the Effect of Daily Micro-Interruptions on Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Affect and the Moderating Role of Pets at Work

Training under an extreme context: the role of organizational support and adaptability on the motivation transfer and performance after training

The intersectional effects of motivational and affective factors on managers' performance

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About