The burdens and benefits of managing and engaging: a diary study approach to person-centred risk assessment of top executives and works council members

Abstract

The present diary study investigates the impact of daily effort–reward imbalance (ERI), subjective stress and the cortisol awakening response (CAR) as an objective measure on work engagement of top managers and high-level works council members (N = 45) on three consecutive working days. In the scope of psychosocial risk assessment, we argue that focusing on ERI as a generalized work characteristic might be more suitable for work re-design of higher leadership positions because of their highly dynamic and unpredictable psychosocial work characteristics, while at the same time having more access to job resources. The analyses reveal that both baseline and daily ERI, as well as subjective stress, influence work engagement. Our results suggest that interventions to reduce daily levels of ERI may improve the work environment of top managers and works councils by promoting work engagement and related positive health outcomes in the scope of person-centred risk assessment.

KEYWORDS:

• effort–reward imbalance
• work engagement
• psychosocial risk assessment
• psychosocial hazard
• leadership
• manager
• works council
• well-being

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Fund of the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.