Search Results (121)

The digital transformation of work has increasingly blurred the temporal, spatial, and psychological boundaries between professional and personal life. As a result, structural conditions have emerged that are associated with an elevated risk of burnout. This narrative review draws on literature identified through searches of Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed covering publications from 2004 to early 2026, which yielded 36 included studies, supplemented by further sources identified outside that search. It integrates key theoretical perspectives, including boundary theory, the Areas of Worklife model, the Job Demands-Resources framework and Conservation of Resources theory. Across diverse occupational contexts, three pathways recur: rising work-family conflict, reduced ability to psychologically detach from work during non-work time and the gradual depletion of personal resources. Structural drivers, comprising organisational availability norms, leadership behaviour, technology and platform design, workload, and economic precarity, are treated as the conditions under which exposure arises, and the review argues that responses pitched at individual coping are correspondingly limited. The public health implications extend beyond mental health, encompassing cardiovascular risk associated with long working hours, strain on healthcare systems, productivity losses and widening health inequities along gendered and socioeconomic lines. Addressing these challenges requires multilevel interventions, including organisational job redesign, leadership development, enforceable right-to-disconnect policies and greater recognition of recovery as a public health priority. At the same time, there remains a need for more longitudinal and intervention-based research, particularly in non-Western contexts. Full article

This literature review examines how gamification influences engagement, motivation, and learning outcomes in distance education. As online learning environments often face challenges related to student isolation and diminished motivation, gamification—the integration of game-design elements into non-game contexts—emerges as a strategic pedagogical tool. Following PRISMA guidelines, this study synthesizes 70 peer-reviewed articles, analyzing key mechanics such as points, leaderboards, and badges, alongside psychological and cognitive frameworks including Self-Determination Theory, Flow Theory, and Cognitive Load Theory. The findings indicate that while gamification positively influences student participation and emotional investment, its effectiveness is highly context-dependent, requiring strict pedagogical alignment and the avoidance of an over-reliance on extrinsic rewards (“pointsification”). Furthermore, the review highlights the role of personalized feedback, cognitive scaffolding, and social interaction in sustaining progress. The results suggest that when integrated thoughtfully, gamification can mitigate online attrition and foster a more resilient, interactive distance learning ecosystem. This work concludes by identifying gaps in current research, particularly regarding methodologically limited long-term cognitive outcomes, the novelty effect, and the necessity for instructor training in gamified methodologies. Full article

The research investigates the psychopathological mechanisms through which perceived leader favoritism (PLF) can affect counterproductive work behavior (CWB) through the mediating effects of employee jealousy toward their coworkers and the specialized form of envy known as malicious envy. Integrating Social Comparison Theory with Affective Events Theory, the study proposes that perceived favoritism triggers unfavorable social comparisons, which in turn evoke negative emotional states that manifest in dysfunctional workplace behaviors. The research used a quantitative study design to gather information from 436 employees working in hotels. The researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the research data while they also conducted reliability and validity assessments. The study shows that perceived leader favoritism leads to higher organizational counterproductive work behavior (CWB-O) and higher interpersonal counterproductive work behavior (CWB-I) among employees. The study found that PLF leads to higher employee jealousy levels which result in higher malicious envy levels that drive CWB behavior. The research found that jealousy and malicious envy function as central psychological pathways which connect favoritism to workplace deviance. This study offers a new contribution to the existing body of knowledge about leadership by extending its scope to investigate how subtle favoritism practices lead to harmful results while explaining the emotional mechanisms which cause counterproductive behavior. The research develops an integrated framework which helps people comprehend how perceived leader favoritism affects emotional responses and behavioral patterns within modern workplaces. Full article

Background/Objectives: Contemporary secondary students increasingly learn in technology-rich classrooms characterized by digital stimulation, multitasking demands, compressed pacing, platform switching, and persistent attentional competition. Established scholarship on cognitive load, multimedia learning, self-regulated learning, disciplinary literacy, attentional control, and environmental restoration identifies mechanisms relevant to these conditions, but these mechanisms are often examined at different levels of analysis. This conceptual review develops the Cognitive Ecology of Learning Framework (CELF) as an applied, classroom-level framework for examining how disciplinary cognitive demand, attentional fragmentation conditions, and restoration opportunities may interact during sustained secondary science learning. Methods: An integrative conceptual-review and theory-synthesis design was used. Iterative searches conducted from January through May 2026 identified theoretical, empirical, and review literature across education, psychology, attentional science, digital learning, environmental psychology, and secondary science education. Sources were selected purposively according to their relevance to the research questions and synthesized through cross-domain comparison. Results: The synthesis proposes CELF as a hypothesis-generating framework organized around three classroom-level dimensions: Disciplinary Cognitive Demand, Attentional Fragmentation Conditions, and Restoration Opportunities. The framework also proposes cognitive malnourishment and cognitive endurance as context-sensitive constructs requiring empirical validation. Cognitive malnourishment describes a possible ecological mismatch in which substantial informational or disciplinary demand coincides with persistent fragmentation and insufficient opportunities for elaboration, reflection, consolidation, and coherent reengagement. Cognitive endurance refers to the context-sensitive capacity to sustain attention, conceptual processing, and disciplinary reasoning during extended, cognitively demanding work. Preliminary indicators, measurement approaches, and testable propositions are presented for future classroom-based research. Conclusions: CELF organizes selected task-level, learner-level, disciplinary, attentional, and environmental constructs within a bounded framework for technology-rich secondary science classrooms. It does not revise or replace the foundational theories from which these constructs are drawn, nor does it claim causal validation. Instead, CELF provides a structure for investigating how classroom conditions may support or constrain attentional continuity, conceptual persistence, restoration, and sustained disciplinary engagement. Full article

Children undergoing cancer treatment face repeated, prolonged hospitalisations carrying substantial risks of psychological distress, social isolation, and impaired development. Volunteers offering structured non-medical activities are widely employed to complement professional psychosocial care in paediatric oncology settings, yet empirical evidence examining their role specifically—as distinct from professionally delivered psychosocial interventions—remains sparse. This narrative review, conducted in accordance with SANRA criteria and drawing on a structured search of PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar (2000–2025), supplemented by a targeted verification search in July 2026, synthesises the theoretical and preliminary empirical basis for volunteer involvement, critically evaluates associated clinical risks, and proposes evidence-informed recommendations for paediatric oncology clinical practice. Three theoretical frameworks provide the conceptual grounding for volunteer activities: developmental psychological models (Piaget; Erikson), stress and coping theory (Lazarus and Folkman), and the biopsychosocial model (Engel). Indirect empirical evidence—derived predominantly from professionally delivered interventions—supports short-term benefits of structured distraction, play, and social activities on procedural anxiety, pain experience, and sense of social inclusion; the sole study examining volunteer-facilitated activities specifically in paediatric oncology reported meaningful reductions in distress and high family satisfaction. Eight categories of clinical risk are identified, including physical and psychological overload, erosion of child autonomy, suppression of authentic emotional expression, and inadequate coordination with healthcare staff. Six practice recommendations are proposed, centred on a working definition of the volunteer role, mandatory pre-access training, genuine individualisation including cultural adaptation, multidisciplinary-team-led coordination, and structured programme evaluation. Volunteer involvement can meaningfully complement professional psychosocial care when delivered within a structured, supervised, and multidisciplinary-team-coordinated framework. The paediatric oncology team occupies a pivotal role in realising the potential benefits while safeguarding children from associated risks. Prospective research employing standardised volunteer programme definitions and validated child-reported outcome measures is urgently needed to build an evidence base commensurate with the clinical importance of this practice. Full article

With the rapid advancement of digital technology, the self-service model has emerged, introducing a new work model known as digital shadow work (DSW). In this model, consumers perform tasks traditionally performed by employees, such as item scanning and self-checkout, without compensation. While this optimizes service processes and reduces business costs, it raises concerns about consumer rights, work value, and business sustainability. This study explores the psychological factors that affect consumer participation in DSW within self-service environments. Using a grounded theory approach and semi-structured interviews, the study reveals key psychological drivers under the dual-system framework. This study’s findings indicate that habitual behavior, impulsivity, time pressure, technological dependence, social identification, and delayed gratification significantly affect participation in DSW. Notably, the intuitive system (System 1) plays a dominant role in decision-making, leading consumers to make quick, automatic choices, often leaving them unaware of the work involved. By identifying these psychological factors, this research increases consumer awareness of DSW, promoting self-protection in self-service contexts. Additionally, understanding decision-making psychology provides essential insights for companies in non-face-to-face self-service technologies, supporting sustainable business practices. Full article

The present study investigated the stress-reducing effect of emotional management (EM) for teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adopting the conservation of resources (COR) theory perspective, we employed a stratified random sampling design to conduct a survey of elementary school teachers in Taiwan with 211 valid responses. Questionnaires were used to assess EM, psychological capital (PsyCap), and perceived work stress. The moderated regression analysis indicated that EM was negatively related to perceived work stress, suggesting that teachers with better emotional management competencies experienced lower levels of work stress during COVID-19. Furthermore, we found a significant interaction between EM and PsyCap on perceived work stress. The interaction was significant for the overall PsyCap and all four components, namely, self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience. Although the simple slope test was not significant for hope, the pattern of interaction was consistent. Specifically, teachers with higher EM perceived lower work stress when they had higher overall PsyCap, self-efficacy, optimism, and resilience. These findings offer evidence to support the COR proposition, showing that PsyCap amplifies the benefit of EM and works together in alleviating teaching stress during the height of the pandemic. The present study contributes to theoretical development by integrating the EM and PsyCap research under a unified theoretical framework of COR. Our finding that teachers with an abundance of resources fared the best under stress also informs the practical training programs to foster teachers’ EM and PsyCap as personal resources for adaptive coping and thriving. Full article

This study examines how employees’ perceptions of transactional and relational psychological contracts influence emotional labor strategies in contemporary work contexts where AI technologies are increasingly present through AI anxiety, general attitudes toward AI, and generative AI acceptance. Based on Conservation of Resources Theory, Cognitive Appraisal Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior and technology acceptance frameworks (UTAUT), a conceptual model was tested using survey data from 869 employees across various sectors in Türkiye. Mediation and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS 30. The results showed that transactional psychological contracts were positively correlated with surface acting, while relational psychological contracts were associated with deep acting. Serial mediation analyses indicated that relational psychological contracts were indirectly associated with higher levels of deep acting, primarily through more positive evaluations of AI, with the full sequential pathway through anxiety reduction not operating as hypothesized. Generative AI acceptance mediated the relationship between negative attitudes toward AI and surface acting. Moreover, generative AI acceptance mediated the relationship between positive attitudes toward AI and deep acting, indicating a pathway through which favorable technology evaluations translate into authentic emotional regulation. Finally, moderated mediation analyses suggest that emotional intelligence strengthens the impact of generative AI acceptance on employees’ emotional labor strategies. Full article

This study investigates the emergence of psychosocial risks during the COVID-19 pandemic in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. It aims to enhance mental health outcomes for project professionals by identifying pandemic-related stressors, evaluating the role of organisational interventions, and developing a practical framework for psychosocial risk management. Guided by Job Demands–Resources (JDR) theory, the research involved a literature review, expert consultations, and a structured survey targeting AEC project managers. The findings reveal that COVID-19-related psychosocial risks such as work overload, isolation, job insecurity, and blurred work–life boundaries were negatively associated with mental health. Organisational interventions were positively associated with improved mental health. However, the moderating effect of organisational intervention on the relationship between psychosocial risks and mental health was not statistically significant. This study proposes a framework to guide AEC organisations in integrating proactive mental health strategies into everyday project practices. While the data are sector-specific and collected during a crisis period, the implications extend to broader project-based settings. This research offers practical insights for AEC firms, policymakers, and industry stakeholders on supporting workforce well-being through targeted interventions. It also contributes conceptually by linking pandemic-induced stressors to established theoretical models of occupational stress, highlighting the need for sector-specific strategies in promoting psychological safety in high-demand work environments. Full article

Purpose: Drawing on the Psychology of Working Theory and the organizational voice literature, this study examines how platform worker voice relates to key work outcomes through perceptions of decent work and whether these relationships vary across types of digital labor platforms. Specifically, the study tests a mediation model in which decent work perceptions link voice to worker outcomes and a moderated mediation model in which platform type conditions these processes. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data were collected from 856 platform workers in Hungary engaged in delivery, transport, and professional service platforms. Platform worker voice was specified as the independent variable, perceptions of decent work as the mediator, and job satisfaction, psychological well-being, turnover intention, and perceived job precarity as outcomes. Conditional process analyses were conducted to test mediation and moderated mediation effects across platform types. Findings: Platform worker voice was positively associated with perceptions of decent work, which in turn were positively related to job satisfaction and psychological well-being and negatively related to turnover intention and perceived job precarity. Perceptions of decent work mediated the relationships between voice and all outcomes. Platform type did not moderate the association between voice and decent work, but it did moderate several associations between decent work and worker outcomes, with generally stronger effects observed among delivery workers compared to transport and professional service workers. Conditional indirect effects varied across platform types, indicating partial support for moderated mediation. Originality/value: This study advances research on decent work in the gig economy by identifying platform worker voice as a key antecedent of decent work perceptions and by showing that the consequences of decent work vary across platform contexts. By integrating mediation and moderation within a single analytical framework, the findings highlight the importance of considering structural heterogeneity when examining psychological processes linking voice to worker outcomes in platform-based employment. Full article

This study investigates the relationship between employees’ task-oriented and social-oriented use of enterprise social media (ESM) and their innovation performance through the accumulation of employees’ social, human, and psychological capital. Integrating Self-Determination Theory and Social Learning Theory, we propose a multiple-mediation framework in which ESM serves as a resource-building infrastructure that supports innovation indirectly by strengthening employee capital. We test the model using survey data from 613 employees in Chinese knowledge-intensive enterprises. Results show that both ESM use orientations are positively associated with all three forms of capital; however, neither orientation has a significant direct effect on innovative performance once the capitals are included. Instead, the ESM–innovation link is transmitted through these capitals, indicating an indirect-only mediation pattern. We further find that empowering leadership amplifies the extent to which human and psychological capital translate into innovative performance, whereas its moderation on the social capital–innovation relationship is comparatively weak. Overall, the findings position ESM as a digital infrastructure that enables a multi-capital pathway to employee innovation in contemporary work settings. Full article

As enterprise social media (ESM) visibility increasingly exposes employees’ work-related behaviors and competencies to organizational audiences, its potential negative psychological consequences remain underexplored. Grounded in social comparison theory and adopting the three-stage “selection, appraisal, and response” research framework, this study investigates whether and how ESM visibility fosters workplace impostor thoughts and, in turn, influences employees’ knowledge-sharing behavior and workplace well-being. Moreover, this research further examines the boundary role of social comparison orientation in shaping these effects. A two-wave, multi-source survey design was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Data were collected from employees and their immediate supervisors in four companies across the finance, IT, management consulting, and education industries in China. To reduce common method variance, data collection was separated by a two-week interval. The final sample consisted of 447 matched employee–supervisor dyads. Hypotheses were tested using correlation and multiple regression analyses conducted in SPSS 23.0 and Mplus 8.3. Mediation and moderated mediation effects were examined using the PROCESS macro (Version 3.5) with 5000 bootstrap resamples. ESM visibility exhibited a significant positive association with workplace impostor thoughts and exerted a negative indirect effect on employees’ knowledge sharing and workplace well-being through workplace impostor thoughts. Moreover, social comparison orientation strengthens the positive effect of ESM visibility on workplace impostor thoughts, as well as the indirect effects of ESM visibility on knowledge sharing and workplace well-being via workplace impostor thoughts. The findings elucidate the relationship between enterprise social media (ESM) visibility and workplace impostor thoughts, highlighting the mediating role of workplace impostor thoughts and the moderating role of social comparison orientation. These findings suggest that ESM visibility generates unintended negative outcomes and complements research on the contextual antecedents of workplace impostor thoughts. Moreover, this study extends social comparison theory to explain employee responses to digital workplace visibility. Full article

Cognitive load theory-informed curriculum design in health sciences education refers to the purposeful organisation of teaching strategies and learning materials based on the principles of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), a framework developed by John Sweller in the late 1980s. CLT is grounded in cognitive psychology and recognises that the working memory has a limited capacity for processing new information. It identifies three types of cognitive load: intrinsic load, which refers to the inherent complexity of the material being learned; extraneous load, which results from ineffective instructional design or irrelevant information; and germane load, which reflects the mental effort directed toward understanding, integrating, and organising information into long-term memory. In health sciences education, students frequently engage with tasks that require the simultaneous processing of multiple interacting elements, placing high demands on working memory at specific points in time. This includes foundational biomedical sciences such as anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology extending to applied clinical skills, diagnostic reasoning under uncertainty, health service management within complex systems, and ethically grounded decision-making. Without thoughtful instructional design, learners may be overwhelmed by excessive information and cognitive demands, which can hinder understanding, retention, and performance. Applying CLT-informed strategies, educators can reduce unnecessary cognitive burden, sequence learning activities to align with learners’ cognitive capacity, and promote deeper learning. This approach supports more effective knowledge acquisition and transfer and is particularly valuable in content dense academic environments such as medicine, nursing, allied health education, public health and health service management education. Therefore, integrating CLT-informed principles into curriculum design can help optimise learning experiences and support the development of competent health professionals. Full article

This study examines the applicability of coding-theoretic tools to the digital monitoring of information space. The proposed approach treats response patterns to socially significant stimuli as binary sequences and interprets their analysis as a classification problem analogous to error correction in coding theory. To verify the feasibility of this framework, a model psychological test consisting of seven binary questions was analyzed using a procedure derived from the Hamming code (7,4). The method makes it possible to map the full space of observed answer combinations onto a smaller set of reference codewords and thereby identify stable response configurations. The obtained results show that the distributions produced after coding-based transformation are markedly non-uniform and contain recurrent maxima, indicating the presence of structured patterns in collective responses. It is also shown that permutations of question order substantially affect the resulting distributions and correlation indicators, which highlights both the sensitivity and the analytical potential of the proposed encoding scheme. The main contribution of the study is methodological: it demonstrates that error-correcting coding can be operationalized as a formal tool for detecting latent regularities in simplified monitoring data. At the same time, the present results should be regarded as proof of concept, since further work is required to validate the approach on larger datasets, compare it with baseline classification methods, and extend it to longer and multivalued response sequences. Full article

Organizations are increasingly required to promote a culture of sustainability among their employees. Accordingly, a growing number of organizations have implemented work practices centered on pro-environmental behaviors. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying these behaviors in the workplace remain insufficiently explored. Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory and normative frameworks, the present study proposes a moderated mediation model examining the relationship between collective efficacy and employees’ pro-environmental behaviors, the mediating role of personal norm, and the moderating role of injunctive norm. Data were collected from 906 Italian employees who completed an online questionnaire, and the hypothesized model was tested using moderated mediation analyses. The results showed that collective efficacy was positively associated with personal norm, which in turn was positively related to pro-environmental behaviors, indicating an indirect association pattern consistent with the hypothesized mediating role of personal norm. Moreover, injunctive norm strengthened the relationship between collective efficacy and pro-environmental behaviors. These findings highlight the central role of moral obligation in translating collective beliefs into sustainable action and underscore the importance of normative organizational climates. This study contributes to the organizational sustainability literature by integrating collective efficacy and normative processes as key drivers of everyday pro-environmental behavior at work. Full article