Thanks to the rapid advances of technology, we are currently experiencing the fourth industrial revolution, which is introducing several changes in how organizations operate and how people learn and do their work. Many questions arise within this framework about how these transformations may affect workers’ wellbeing, and the Work and Organizational Psychology is called upon to address these open issues. This study aims to investigate personal and organizational antecedents (resilience, goal orientation and opportunities for information and training) and one consequence (work engagement) of technology acceptance within factories, comparing white- and blue-collar workers. The study involved a sample of 598 workers (white-collar = 220, blue-collar = 378) employed at an Italian company who filled in a self-report questionnaire. In both samples, the multi-group structural equation model showed a positive relationship between resilience, opportunities for information and training, and technology acceptance, which in turn showed a positive association with work engagement. All indirect effects were significant. This study investigated the motivational dynamics related to the introduction of new technologies within factories involving the little-studied population of blue-collar workers. Results highlighted the importance of providing information and opportunities for training to all employees, in order to support Industry 4.0 transformations without impacting on workers’ motivation.

The aim of the present study was to develop a research model explaining the causal relationship between certain antecedents (job and emotional charge, supportive management and colleagues), work-family conflict (WFC) and job satisfaction. Many research projects in health organizations have highlighted the link between high WFC and lower levels of job satisfaction. The study of these variables is important in understanding the processes of professional nurse retention. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire administered to 351 professional nurses working in a major North Italian hospital. The questionnaire measures six variables: WFC, job satisfaction, job demand, emotional charge, supportive management and supportive colleagues. The data confirmed the connection between WFC and job satisfaction, and showed the importance of some WFC predictors, such as supportive management, emotional charge and job demand, not only for their connections with WFC but also for their direct associations with job satisfaction. WFC, in health organizations, can contribute to a decrease of nurses' job satisfaction. Nursing management could achieve its aim of reducing WFC through the improvement of support from nurse coordinators, the specific organization of work models, ad hoc family-friendly policies and individual counselling programmes for nurses.

The interest in the promotion of entrepreneurship is significantly increasing, particularly in those countries, such as Italy, that suffered during the recent great economic recession and subsequently needed to revitalize their economy. Entrepreneurial intention (EI) is a crucial stage in the entrepreneurial process and represents the basis for consequential entrepreneurial actions. Several research projects have sought to understand the antecedents of EI. This study, using a situational approach, has investigated the personal and contextual determinants of EI, exploring gender differences. In particular, the mediational role of general self-efficacy between internal locus of control (LoC), self-regulation, and support from family and friends, on the one hand, and EI, on the other hand, has been investigated. The study involved a sample of 658 Italian participants, of which 319 were male and 339 were female. Data were collected with a self-report on-line questionnaire and analysed with SPSS 23 and Mplus 7 to test a multi-group structural equation model. The results showed that self-efficacy totally mediated the relationship between internal LoC, self-regulation and EI. Moreover, it partially mediated the relationship between support from family and friends and EI. All the relations were significant for both men and women; however, our findings highlighted a stronger relationship between self-efficacy and EI for men, and between support from family and friends and both self-efficacy and EI for women. Findings highlighted the role of contextual characteristics in addition to personal ones in influencing EI and confirmed the key mediational function of self-efficacy. As for gender, results suggested that differences between men and women in relation to the entrepreneur role still exist. Practical implications for trainers and educators are discussed.

Background and Objectives: The present study tries to gain more insight in workaholism by investigating its antecedents and consequences using the job demands-resources model. Design: We hypothesized that job demands would be positively related to workaholism, particularly when job resources are low. In addition, we hypothesized that workaholism would be positively related to negative outcomes in three important life domains: health, family, and work. Methods: The research involved 617 Italian workers (employees and self-employed). To test the hypotheses we applied structural equation modeling (SEM) and moderated structural equation modeling (MSEM) using Mplus 6. Results: The results of SEM showed a good model where workload, cognitive demands, emotional demands, and customer-related social stressors were positively related to workaholism and work–family conflict (WFC) (partial mediation). Additionally, workaholism was indirectly related to exhaustion and intentions to change jobs through WFC. Moreover, MSEM analyses confirmed that job resources (job security and opportunities for development) buffered the relationship between job demands and workaholism. Particularly, the interaction effects were statistically significant in five out of eight combinations. Conclusions: These findings suggest that workaholism is a function of a suboptimal work environment and predicts unfavorable employee outcomes. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Summary: Employee silence, the withholding of work‐related ideas, questions, or concerns from someone who could effect change, has been proposed to hamper individual and collective learning as well as the detection of errors and unethical behaviors in many areas of the world. To facilitate cross‐cultural research, we validated an instrument measuring four employee silence motives (i.e., silence based on fear, resignation, prosocial, and selfish motives) in 21 languages. Across 33 countries (N = 8,222) representing diverse cultural clusters, the instrument shows good psychometric properties (i.e., internal reliabilities, factor structure, and measurement invariance). Results further revealed similarities and differences in the prevalence of silence motives between countries, but did not necessarily support cultural stereotypes. To explore the role of culture for silence, we examined relationships of silence motives with the societal practices cultural dimensions from the GLOBE Program. We found relationships between silence motives and power distance, institutional collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance. Overall, the findings suggest that relationships between silence and cultural dimensions are more complex than commonly assumed. We discuss the explanatory power of nations as (cultural) units of analysis, our social scientific approach, the predictive value of cultural dimensions, and opportunities to extend silence research geographically, methodologically, and conceptually.

This study investigated how work relationships (perceived organisational support, supervisor and co-worker work–family backlash) and job demands (workload, emotional dissonance) can interact with work–family conflict and work–family enrichment. Despite the extensive literature on the work–family interface, few studies on the nursing profession have considered the role of job demands and work relationships, focusing on both the positive and negative side of the work–family interface. The study involved a sample of 500 nurses working in an Italian hospital. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. Analyses showed that work–family conflict has a positive relationship with job demands and supervisor backlash, and a negative relationship with perceived organisational support. Work–family enrichment was found to have a negative relationship with job demands and a positive relationship with perceived organisational support. No significant relationships were found between work–family enrichment and both backlash dimensions. The study confirmed the importance of promoting a balance between job demands and resources in order to create favourable conditions for work–family enrichment and to prevent work–family conflict. The findings suggest that it may be advisable for health-care organisations to invest in measures at individual, team and organisational levels, specifically in training and counselling for nurses and supervisors.