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Do Attitudes towards Work or Work Motivation Affect Productivity Loss among Academic Employees?

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  • Malin Lohela-Karlsson

    (Centre for Clinical Research, Region Västmanland–Uppsala University, Hospital of Västmanland, 721 89 Västerås, Sweden
    Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences–Health Services Research, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 564, 751 22 Uppsala, Sweden
    Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Department of Occupational Health Sciences and Psychology, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden)

  • Irene Jensen

    (Unit of Intervention and Implementation Research on Worker Health (IIR), Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden)

  • Christina Björklund

    (Unit of Intervention and Implementation Research on Worker Health (IIR), Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden)

Abstract

Work motivation and job attitudes are important for productivity levels among academic employees. In situations where employees perceive problems, for example, health-related and work environment-related problems, the ability to perform at work could be affected, which may result in fewer publications, reduced quality and less research funding. Few studies, however, have paid attention to productivity loss among academic employees in order to understand how, or if, the perceived loss is affected by the reported problems, either alone or in combination with work motivation and job attitudes. To evaluate whether attitudes towards work—measured as job satisfaction, organisational commitment and work motivation—are associated with productivity loss in the workplace, a cross-sectional study was conducted. This type of design is required as performance is highly variable and is affected by changes in health and work status. This study includes employees who reported either health-related problems, work environment problems or a combination of both ( n = 1475). Linear regression analyses were used to answer the hypotheses. Higher levels of motivation, job satisfaction and organisational commitment were associated with lower levels of productivity loss among employees who experienced either health-related or work environment problems. High work motivation and high commitment were significantly associated with lower levels of productivity loss among employees who experienced a combination of problems. In summary, productivity loss among academic employees is not only affected by health-related problems or problems in the work environment but also by work motivation, job satisfaction and organisational commitment; i.e., these factors seem to buffer, or moderate, the reduction in performance levels for this group of employees.

Suggested Citation

  • Malin Lohela-Karlsson & Irene Jensen & Christina Björklund, 2022. "Do Attitudes towards Work or Work Motivation Affect Productivity Loss among Academic Employees?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-14, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:2:p:934-:d:725128
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Susan Washburn Taylor & Blakely Fox Fender & Kimberly Gladden Burke, 2006. "Unraveling the Academic Productivity of Economists: The Opportunity Costs of Teaching and Service," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(4), pages 846-859, April.
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    6. Snell, Clete & Sorensen, Jon & Rodriguez, John J. & Kuanliang, Attapol, 2009. "Gender differences in research productivity among criminal justice and criminology scholars," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 288-295, May.
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    8. Susan Washburn Taylor & Blakely Fox Fender & Kimberly Gladden Burke, 2006. "Unraveling the Academic Productivity of Economists: The Opportunity Costs of Teaching and Service," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(4), pages 846-859, April.
    9. Emmanuel Aboagye & Irene Jensen & Gunnar Bergström & Elisabeth Björk Brämberg & Oscar Javier Pico-Espinosa & Christina Björklund, 2021. "Investigating the association between publication performance and the work environment of university research academics: a systematic review," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3283-3301, April.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Zoemarie Baluarte & Cielo Vincent Tocmo & Ma Lynflora Pendang & Michael Jere Abiol & George Hamoy & Ruben Lee, 2023. "Enhancing Workplace Performance: Exploring the Influence of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation on Employees' Productivity in Iligan City's Appliance Retail Industry," Post-Print hal-04222195, HAL.

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