The role of SOC - CHAPTER FOUR: SENSE OF COHERENCE (SOC)

CHAPTER FOUR: SENSE OF COHERENCE (SOC)

4.6.4 The role of SOC

SOC into WLBS could aid the achievement of WLB by those employees having weaker SOC, which is capable of being modified by the strategies.

This study is based on professional level employees at a municipality in the South African public sector, most of whom are confronted daily by work and family stressors and the need to achieve WLB. The study takes cognisance of apartheid and its effect on the SOC of individual employees by appraising the connection between WLB and SOC. The aim for examining the role of SOC in this study was primarily because it is indicated in the literature that most individuals daily contend with stressors, and SOC is discovered to be a dispositional buffering influence in this perspective.

Although Antonovsky (1979) indicates that SOC is a global orientation that helps in managing stressors irrespective of cultural connotations, some studies have portrayed the concept as an element of resilience. Some cross-sectional studies have reported a connection between high SOC with good health (Antonovsky, 1993; Feldt, 1997; Suominen et al., 2001). Likewise, many longitudinal studies have discovered that SOC is a predictor of health (Feldt, Kinnunen, et al., 2000; Feldt, Leskinen, et al., 2000; Kivimäki et al., 2002; Suominen et al., 2001).

Strümpfer (1997) found that there is a direct correlation between SOC and apparent health among seventy nine supervisors in the agricultural sector in South Africa. Bishop (1993) discovered that SOC acted as a buffer on life stressors when he studied the illness record of 186 students in Singapore. Strümpfer, Danana, et al. (1998) observe that satisfaction with work correlated positively with SOC among a sample of 323 individuals selected from nurses, skilled workers and management staff. Moreover, Lustig and Strauser (2002, p. 4), submit that SOC was learnt to be the differentiating factor among fulfilled/competent employees and unfulfilled/incompetent employees (Kalimo & Vuori, 1990).

There is empirical evidence that shows that SOC moderates an individual’s handling of various life stressors (Lustig & Strauser, 2002), issues of violence at work and reactions to stress (Hogh

& Mikkelsen, 2005), impacts of events that are stressful on health (Richardson & Ratner, 2005), effect of difficulties relating to life in the College and symptoms of depression among students (Ying, Lee, & Tsai, 2007). Therefore, it may be realistic to presume that there could be an association between SOC and work and family stressors. This association is anticipated to be able to affect the achievement of WLB. There have been little or no studies linking SOC with WLB with the objective of exploring the connectedness of both concepts. The present study presumes that SOC will influence the achievement of WLB in the face of work-life stressors, through the use of WLBS available to an individual at work. The researcher theorises that the possession of high or low SOC (Diraz et al., 2003) could determine the extent to which a person achieves WLB or otherwise.

In this context, the three perspectives to the SOC concept could be relevant in understanding how individuals manage stress and achieve WLB. These perspectives are: 1) meaningfulness (a construct that views the treatment of demands in the work-life domain as meaningful tasks that should be exploited rather than stressors), 2) manageability (a perception of one’s environment as having the resources necessary to deal with the presentations (stressors in this case) in the environment, and 3) comprehensibility (an acceptance of the environment as being

organised, foreseeable and explicable (Kivimäki, Feldt, Vahtera, & Nurmi, 2000, p. 240).

Individuals who score greater marks on the three facets of SOC are said to have a strong SOC (Feldt et al., 2002; Antonovsky, 1979, 1987a, 1991). Therefore, these individuals could easily manage stressors through the use of WLBS available and go ahead to achieve meaningful WLB. This study did not explore the marks scored by individuals on the facets of SOC, rather it presumes that the three perspectives of SOC could among other factors underpin the behaviour, mental assessment (Antonovsky, 1987; Hogh & Mikkelsen, 2005) and relational frame of WLB behaviour among employees.

The major assumption of the SOC theory is that the adequateness of an individual’s capacity to cope with psychosocial stressors emanating from the work and family domains depends on the strength of his/her SOC (Antonovsky, 1987b; Hogh & Mikkelsen, 2005). Theoretically, it could be assumed that the reason that a person facing stressors in work and family domains may be unable to achieve WLB could be as a result of their view of the demands of these domains as threats and not challenges worthy to be taken up (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007;

Hakanen & Roodt, 2010; Latendresse, 2009). This could naturally lead to disinterest in balancing the role demands from these domains. Likewise, inappreciation or meaninglessness associated with work and family stressors could lead to negative behaviours that may place more salience on one role and not the other, indicated by lesser involvement, time spent, satisfaction and or efficiency in handling issues in the domain that has received lesser salience (Perrons, 2003). For example, if an employee perceives job stress and absence of autonomy at work as stressors rather than challenges needing to be tackled, the individual may decide to focus on working hard to enjoy the family by spending more time with family. This could lead to inefficiency at work, job dissatisfaction, involvement imbalance and probably overall poor performance.

This study presumes that possession of strong SOC will help an individual to choose what to do with work and family stressors as well as WLB. This is indicated by the manner in which the individual perceives the world around them demonstrated by the move that the individual makes in structuring their roles predictably and explicably. It implies that a person having strong SOC could perceive the job as stressful but will find ways of meaningfully coping with the stressors. According to Feldt, Kinnunen, et al. (2000), experiences that are consistent are the root of comprehensibility. This means that ability to comprehend issues is built from experiences that are predictable in constancy. For instance, an individual exposed to the same

experiences regularly may acquire some attributes from these encounters that should build some kind of capacity or mastery over them with time. Likewise, if stress is removed from a job and an employee with a low SOC is employed in the organisation, he/she may perceive job demands as challenges that are worthy to be exploited rather than destructive issues. It could be suggested therefore that absence of or reduced job stress can improve the level of SOC among those with low SOC and enhance strong SOC.

In examining SOC and stressors for instance, Liu et al. (2005) report that some researches and theories associate job autonomy to mental health, physiological wellness and behaviour (Spector, 1086, 1998; Evans & Carrere, 1991; Ganster & Fusilier, 1991). An experience of absence of autonomy at the workplace could lead to the perception by an employee that the workplace lacks the resources that are necessary for effective job performance (Bakker, Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005; Bakker, Hakanen, Demerouti, & Xanthopoulou, 2007).

Antonovsky (1987a, b; 1991) suggests that significant role balance produces manageability.

Conversely, absence of balance affects manageability negatively. An employee in a job situation that he/she perceives as not offering him/her autonomy could be uncertain about, how and when to perform their function, which could lead to mental and possibly physical stress.

This could influence the manner the individual gets involved with and spends time at work and ultimately the satisfaction derived from such engagement. For instance, assignment to a role that lacks sufficient control over decisions by a professional level employee could leave the employee struggling with the stressor and decision to achieve balance. Therefore, absence of autonomy (stressor) may affect SOC and conversely create difficulty in coping.

For instance, when family demands an individual employee’s attention and time to attend an important family function during a period that the employee considers to be the peak (busy) period, the employee may rationalise that the family members do not understand the demand of his/her job. This could lead to conflict resulting in dissatisfaction, less involvement and ultimately, work-life imbalance.

Function vagueness/role conflict can affect a person’s SOC adversely. Role ambiguity (vagueness) refers to the degree to which a person lacks clarity with respect to the expectation of others concerning his/her function, plus the extent of uncertainty relating to an individual’s performance (Hoeness & Kamal, 2015; Katsikea, Theodosiou, & Morgan, 2015; Netemeyer et al., 1990). While Rizzo et al. (1970) defined role conflict as the degree to which expectations of a role are incompatible or incongruent with the reality of the role, a person having weak

SOC and experiencing function vagueness/conflict in their roles may be incapable of seeing any meaning in the demands of the job but rather may perceive challenges as not worthy of venturing into or engaging with. This researcher presumes that function vagueness/role conflict could negatively affect a person’s SOC. This could be due to the fact that function vagueness and role conflict create the feeling that the workplace is unorganised, unpredictable and inexplicable which also could lead to dissatisfaction, inefficiency and instability both at home and at work (Bolino & Turnley, 2005). This mental feeling may affect an individual’s use of WLBS and ultimately the manner stressors are addressed.

A study by Holmberg et al. (2004) among 1 782 of the male population in Sweden revealed that a robust negative association existed between SOC and work demand (stressor), while an optimistic association with job autonomy was observed. García‐Moya et al. (2013) found that SOC associated directly with stress and that learners with strong SOC demonstrated lower probability of suffering from stress resulting from schooling. Moksnes et al. (2011) found a strong but inverse connection between SOC and subjective health complaints. It was nevertheless found that no association existed between SOC and educational level (Larsson &

Kallenberg, 1996; Nilsson, Holmgren, & Westman, 2000), as well as occupation. Therefore, SOC demonstrated high association to job-related mental and environmental factors, as well as common support, nonetheless, it was non-aligned to socio-demographic variables (Holmberg et al., 2004). Holmberg et al. (2004) report that the level of job training associated strongly to SOC with both male and female workers, while Larsson and Kallenberg (1996) and Nilsson et al. (2000) show that distinct associations exist between SOC and communal backing (support).

Similarly, considering the effect of these work stressors on an individual’s SOC, it will not be out of order to presume that SOC likewise plays a significant role in a person’s ability to achieve WLB. Hogh and Mikkelsen (2005) are of the opinion that individual peculiarities could affect the way people appraise underlying stressors and their own coping capacity, to which they either deepen, lessen or avert stress reactions (Juth, Dickerson, Zoccola, & Lam, 2015;

LePine, Zhang, Rich, & Crawford, 2015; Spector, Zapf, Chen, & Frese, 2000). Therefore, at the mental, behavioural and relational frame (Kivimäki et al., 2000), achievement of WLB could have factors that can be attributed to high SOC and low SOC. In the case where this is the reality, SOC could be a mediating variable between WLBS and WLB. Kivimäki et al.

(2000) report that only indirect evidence is obtainable to validate the mediating role of SOC.

However, in a study conducted by Albertsen, Nielsen, and Borg (2001) among 2 053 Danish workers from 52 organisations, SOC was identified as a mediating variable between organisational climate and signs of stress. It confirmed that SOC also had some kind of moderating influence, because their results suggest that individuals with higher SOC demonstrated better coping abilities with stress from the work environment, than those possessing lower SOC. In addition, they suggested that SOC should be considered when analysing the influence of factors associated with organisational climate on strain and wellness (Albertsen et al., 2001). This study did not investigate the mediating role of SOC.

However, there are a few studies that explored the moderating role of SOC. SOC has been found to moderate the connection between work features and wellness (Feldt, 1997), and the connection between unemployment and bodily/mental symptoms (Hanse & Engstrom, 1999).

Albertsen et al. (2001) and (Kivimäki et al., 2002) refuted the claims that SOC is a moderator of the association between causes of stress and perceived stress. But, Feldt, Kinnunen, et al.

(2000) found that SOC can be altered as a result of changes in the workplace, pointing that SOC is not a rigid feature. This informed the reason why the present study considers that relevant changes made in WLBS adopted by an organisation to assist employees achieve WLB could improve individual employee’s SOC. Strong SOC can help employees cope with work and family stressors and this may lead to the achievement of meaningful WLB. It could therefore be assumed that strong SOC may be positively associated with work and family stressors which could directly or indirectly result in the mitigation of the stressors. This is supported by Antonovsky (1987b) in his report that a strong SOC is notable in the manner in which individuals perceive or experience the environment they are in, and their employment conditions. He further posited that a high level of SOC promotes the perception of stressors as challenges needing to be solved rather than problems threatening the individual (Antonovsky, 1987).

Feldt (1997) suggests that the reason why the role of SOC as a moderator is not well explored may be because SOC is not basically a moderating variable (Antonovsky, 1987). The result of some of the studies that examined the moderating role of SOC looked like they support the concept as a major impact element rather than a moderator in the explanation of wellness (Flannery & Flannery, 1990; Korotkov, 1993). The outcome of the study by Flannery and Flannery (1990) shows that SOC did not moderate the association between stressors and wellness, while Korotkov (1993) reports that the SOC measure lacked clarity, structure, plus

prognostic rationality among models that moderate stress (Feldt, 1997). He suggests that the probability that SOC plays the role of a moderating variable in the association among apparent work features and wellness is not certainly clear. But where there is an absence of interface among constructs that usually moderate associations there could be need for further clarification (James, Pitt-Catsouphes, McNamara, Snow, & Johnson, 2015).

Finally, Ryland and Greenfeld (1991) observe that a strong SOC has a negative association with apparent job strain, burnout (Baker, North, & Smith, 1997; Gilbar, 1998), overall wellness (Ryland & Greenfeld, 1991) and mental tiredness at work (Feldt, 1997; Gilbar, 1998). In addition it was found that SOC had an inverse relationship with stress and that continued exposure to stressors causes SOC to deteriorate (Wolff & Ratner, 1999). They also found that contrary to Antonovsky’s (1996b) prediction that SOC stabilises at age 30, unmanaged or badly managed exposure to constant stressors weakens SOC. On the other hand, SOC has a positive association with overall wellness (Ryland & Greenfeld, 1991), functional status (Carmel, Anson, Levenson, Bonneh, & Maoz, 1991), and life satisfaction (Kalimo & Vuori, 1990; Sagy, Antonovsky, & Adler, 1990). Likewise, low SOC according to scholars is found to be linked to worry (Bowman, 1996; Carmel & Bernstein, 1989; Flannery, Perry, Penk, & Flannery, 1994;

Hart et al., 1991) and despair (Bowman, 1996; Flannery et al., 1994).

The present study is examined the connection that SOC has with WLB and the impact that WLBS plays in the connection. The researcher hypothesises that stressors influence SOC and that SOC could be improved by well formulated and designed WLBS that help employees manage work and family stressors, as well as assist them in achieving meaningful WLB.

Although the SOC concept has been widely researched, there are certain aspects of the construct that beg for clarification. According to Feldt et al. (2002), among the most fundamental facets of SOC that needs further examination is the stability factor, which the proponent, Antonovsky (1993) himself says requires more analysis. Just like other trait features which are associated with a person’s endowment including locus of control (Rotter, 1975), self- efficacy (Bandura, 1977) and hardiness (Kobasa, 1979, 1982). SOC (Antonovsky, 1979, 1987a, 1991) has been presumed to show relative stability with regards to personality dispositions after adolescence (Feldt et al., 2003).

A very critical factor in the definition of SOC is the assumption that it is a stable personality trait (Antonovsky, 1987, pp. 1987b, 1991, 1993; Antonovsky, Sagy, Adler, & Visel, 1990;

Sagy et al., 1990). Feldt et al. (2003) conducted a study to test the stability of SOC according to Antonovsky’s (1987a) proposition that SOC, though a progressive construct, stabilises at age 30. In a five-year longitudinal study among two different age categories of a sample of 352 Finnish technical designers, it was found that age played no part in the constancy of, degree of, or average modification in SOC, meaning that SOC does not grow and stabilise in adulthood (Feldt et al., 2003). But Feldt et al. (2007) report that SOC was observed as showing better stability among respondents who were older than 30 years (constancy factor 0.81) than among those adults younger than 30 years (stability factor 0.70); supporting the notion that SOC is more stable in the course of maturity. In their study, Eriksson and Lindström (2005) confirm that SOC appears to be seemingly stable after 10 years but not in the magnitude of Antonovsky’s (1987) original assumption. They also report that it seems that SOC increases as one ages, and forecasts an optimistic result in the long run; even though differing outcomes have been reported. The scholars are of the opinion that the SOC scale may be a valid and reliable scale which can be used across cultures to measure individual ways of handling stressors (Eriksson & Lindström, 2005). The present study is not examining the stability of SOC to ascertain its weakness or strength among individual employees.

The aim of this study is to investigate the connection between WLB and SOC in order to, among other things: 1) discover the influence of work and family stressors on SOC, 2) to examine if a connection exists between an individual’s SOC and WLB, and how WLBS impact on this connection. The study assumes that stressors impact on SOC, demonstrated in the way an individual responds to stressors. A person with strong SOC may comprehend a stressor as a challenge and perceive that he/she has the resources in his/her environment (work and family domains) to manage those stressors. This can lead to the development of an ability to meaningfully strive to achieve WLB. For example, a person with strong SOC who is called in the middle of a meeting that he or she is heading and notified that his/her elderly parent has just been rushed to the hospital, will in his/her stride arrange for someone else to take over the meeting or calmly conclude the meeting after making calls to ascertain the degree of emergency of the matter, while a person with low SOC may cut the meeting short or haphazardly conclude it and in a panic, rush off to the hospital. The manner in which the person with a strong SOC will arrange his/her role over the next days around the emergency will be totally different. The person with a strong SOC will consider the development as a challenge that is surmountable by drawing from his/her work-life benefits, social support and/or personal internal resources to face the challenge, while the individual with low SOC may feel that the demand of the

Dalam dokumen The connection between work-life balance (WLB) and a sense of coherence (SOC) at a municipality in the South African public sector. (Halaman 100-108)