My doctoral research focuses on employment conditions and aspects of the psychosocial work environment among faculty working at higher education institutions in Sweden. More specifically, I am interested in how various types of employment contracts and perceptions of job insecurity may be associated with consequences of health, well-being, and work-life (im)balance for faculty in Swedish academia.

 

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Can unions represent the interests of insecure workers?

  2023. Magnus Sverke (et al.). Job Insecurity, Precarious Employment and Burnout, 105-125

  Chapter

  Insecure work has become increasingly frequent in recent decades. It includes insecure employment contracts (contractual arrangements that deviate from permanent, open-ended contracts) as well as perceived job insecurity (an individual perception that one’s job is at risk). While research on insecure work (contractual and perceived) has identified numerous work-related and health-related outcomes, a limited number of studies have investigated if union membership may be a protective factor. The unionization rate among workers with insecure employment contracts is relatively low, despite these contractual arrangements often being characterized by poor working conditions. This chapter reviews previous research to address the following questions: (1) How do insecure workers view union membership and what are their unionization behaviours (joining and leaving)? (2) Can union membership and support buffer the negative effects of insecure work on work-related and health-related outcomes? (3) How can unions represent the interests of insecure workers?

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• How do Effort, Reward, and Their Combined Effects Predict Burnout, Self-rated Health, and Work-family Conflict Among Permanent and Fixed-term Faculty?

  2023. Anna Sofia Tanimoto, Anne Richter, Petra Lindfors. Annals of Work Exposures and Health

  Article

  Employment conditions and psychosocial factors have been linked to various health-related outcomes in different occupational groups, but few studies focus on the conditions in academia. This study explores the effects of effort, reward, and their interaction to explain health-related outcomes, namely burnout, self-rated health, and work-family conflict among academic faculty in Sweden. We also explore these effects among those with permanent and fixed-term employment contracts. Questionnaire data, collected online in 2016, came from 2335 employees (57% women) with a doctoral degree, working at a Swedish higher education institution. Latent moderation analysis combined with multi-group analysis was conducted. Main effects of effort were found for all health-related outcomes revealing that effort was associated with higher burnout, poorer self-rated health, and greater work-family conflict. Reward was negatively associated with burnout and self-rated health revealing that reward reduced burnout and improved self-rated health. The interaction between effort and reward was significantly associated with all outcomes among permanent contract employees, but was non-significant among those with fixed-term contracts. This may suggest that fixed-term faculty are less affected by the presence or lack of reward. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of the psychosocial work environment to understand health-related consequences for permanent and fixed-term faculty with a doctoral degree.

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• How do job insecurity profiles correspond to employee experiences of work-home interference, self-rated health, and psychological well-being?

  2021. Lena Låstad, Anna Sofia Tanimoto, Petra Lindfors. Journal of Occupational Health 63 (1)

  Article

  Objectives: Traditional variable-oriented research has shown that employee perceptions of job insecurity (JI) are associated with negative consequences, including more work-home interference, poorer health, and impaired well-being. Besides the negative consequences of high JI, particular combinations of JI perceptions may also be associated with different consequences. Taking a person-oriented approach, this study aimed to investigate (1) whether it is possible to distinguish different combinations of JI perceptions among working women and men and (2) whether such JI profiles involve different experiences of work-home interference, health, and well-being.

  Methods: Self-reports in questionnaires of JI, including both quantitative and qualitative threats of perceived job loss, work-home interference (WHI), health, and psychological well-being came from 1169 white-collar workers (52.4% women) in Sweden. Latent profile analysis was performed to identify JI profiles. Subsequent analyses included comparing profiles with respect to WHI, health, and well-being.

  Results: Four distinct JI profiles were identified: (1) Secure; quality-concerned, (2) Insecure: employment-concerned, (3) Insecure, and (4) Secure. Comparisons of cluster profiles showed significant differences in work-home interference (family-work conflict), self-rated health, and psychological well-being.

  Conclusions: Findings suggest that the Insecure profile may be most vulnerable to adverse consequences of perceived JI. Taken together, different JI profiles may be associated with differential experiences of work-home interference, health, and psychological well-being among working women and men.

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• Non-standard Employment Contracts

  2021. Anna Sofia Tanimoto (et al.). Flexible Working Practices and Approaches, 191-211

  Chapter

  Non-standard employment includes a variety of contractual arrangements which deviate from permanent, open-ended, full-time work. There are several types of non-standard work, including project work, seasonal work, on-call work, solo self-employment, and temporary agency work. Non-standard workers are typically younger, have lower levels of education, and are more often women in comparison with standard employees. Despite substantial heterogeneity between different types of non-standard work, and research illustrating that the consequences may vary between contract forms, the overall picture suggests that non-standard employment is associated with more negative work-related, safety-related, and health-related outcomes than standard employment. Findings also suggest that these associations may be influenced by factors related to an individual’s preference for their employment contract or the job specifically. Non-standard employment may have implications for the individual, policy-makers, employers, and unions. There is a need for additional research focusing on disentangling various contractual arrangements and investigating how various types of non-standard workers differ in terms of demographic characteristics, work environment conditions, and consequences.

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• Job insecurity profiles in relation to indicators of health and well-being among faculty in Sweden

  2023. Anna Sofia Tanimoto (et al.). International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 58

  Conference

  Background: Job insecurity is a well-known stressor. Yet among the highly educated, including individuals working in higher education, little is known regarding how perceptions of job insecurity coincide with outcomes of health and well-being. Perceived job insecurity concerns threats of job loss (quantitative job insecurity), and concerns about deteriorating working conditions (qualitative). Studies have linked quantitative and qualitative job insecurity with consequences for employee health and well-being, but few have investigated their combined effects and health-related associations within academia.

  Purpose: This study investigates profiles of quantitative and qualitative job insecurity among faculty in Sweden, and examines these in relation to health and well-being outcomes.

  Method: Questionnaire data was collected in 2021 from a representative sample of faculty with a doctoral degree, working in Swedish academia (N = 2729). Forty-eight percent were women, (mean age: 50). Latent profile analysis and auxiliary variable analyses (to compare health-related outcomes across profiles) were conducted.

  Results: Five distinctive profiles of job insecurity emerged: 1) Moderately insecure, 2) Secure, 3) Secure; quality-concerned, 4) Insecure; employment-concerned, and 5) Insecure. Significant differences were found between profiles for exhaustion, depressive symptoms, well-being and work-family conflict.

  Conclusions: Variations of perceived job insecurity also exist among highly educated groups, including faculty in Sweden. While the majority belong to the Secure profile, characterized as better off, health-wise, there are some faculty, belonging to the more insecure profiles, who appear more vulnerable. Efforts to mitigate job insecurity among these groups may reduce risks for adverse outcomes and benefit their health and well-being.

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• Psychosocial working conditions and recovery among women and men: findings from two study cohorts in higher education

  2023. Petra Lindfors (et al.). International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 58-58

  Conference

  Background: Previous studies of social workers suggest that psychosocial working conditions and social position may interfere with both short-term and long-term recovery. But it is unclear whether this holds for individuals who work in higher education, a particularly knowledge-intensive sector of the labor market.

  Purpose: This study investigates how employment (contract type) and psychosocial working conditions (effort and reward) relate to different aspects of recovery among women and men. Specifically, three aspects of recovery were included: recovery 1) in the morning, 2) after a weekend, and 3) after a longer holiday.

  Method: Self-reports in questionnaires were collected in 2016 (n: 920 women/717 men) and 2021 (n: 1290 women/1416 men) from two different study cohorts in Swedish academia.

  Results: There were no significant relationships between contract and recovery. Higher effort was consistently associated with all aspects of recovery among both women men in the two study cohorts. Higher reward was associated with better recovery across cohorts, for both women and men. However, findings for reward were less consistent in 2016 (women: promotion; men: esteem).

  Conclusions: Among the highly educated, contract type has no important role, which may relate to most individuals having a permanent employment contract. Psychosocial working conditions were associated with all aspects of recovery, with associations seeming more consistent in 2021, which may relate to the better representativity of this cohort. Overall, the findings underscore the importance of providing sustainable psychosocial working conditions that allow recovery opportunities for both women and men working in higher education.

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• How do effort, reward, and their combined effects predict burnout, self-rated health, and work-family conflict among permanent and fixed-term faculty?

  2023. Anna Sofia Tanimoto, Petra Lindfors, Anne Richter. Book of Abstracts (DRAFT), 530-531

  Conference

  Research goals and why the work was worth doing: The goal of this study was to contribute to current knowledge of employment and working conditions in academia. As work in academia is increasingly described as stressful, academic faculty may be at risk for adverse health-related outcomes, which in turn may jeopardize the quality of education and research conducted at higher education institutions. Considering the crucial role that teachers and researchers in higher education play in society, it is important to strive to identify ways in which to improve their working conditions. In this study, we examine if and how faculty perceptions of the psychosocial work environment are associated with different health-related outcomes, and explore how these relationships play out for permanent and fixed-term faculty.

  Theoretical background: Employment conditions and psychosocial factors have been associated with various health-related outcomes in different occupational groups, but few studies focus on the conditions in academia, particularly Swedish academia. Previous research suggests that the psychosocial work environment may contribute to impaired health and interference between work and family among faculty. Furthermore, temporary employment contracts are commonplace in academia, and may influence employee perceptions of the psychosocial work environment. Moreover, research from other sectors regarding the role of contract type may not generalize to academia. Thus, this study aimed to: 1) investigate the effects of effort, reward, and their interaction to explain burnout, self-rated health, and work-family conflict among faculty in Sweden, and 2) empirically contribute to the research on psychosocial working conditions, contract type, and associated health-related outcomes, including work-family conflict, in academia.

  Design/Methodology/Approach/Intervention: Questionnaire data, collected online in 2016, came from 2335 faculty with a doctoral degree, working at higher education institutions in Sweden. The average respondent was 48 years of age, 57 percent were women and 78 percent held permanent contracts. Measures of the psychosocial work environment included effort and reward. Burnout, self-rated health, and work-family conflict constituted the health-related outcomes. Using structural equation modeling, multi-group analysis combined with latent moderation analyses was conducted.

  Results obtained: Main effects of effort were found for all health-related outcomes revealing that effort was associated with higher burnout, poorer self-rated health, and greater work-family conflict. Main effects of reward were found for burnout and self-rated health in both contract groups revealing that reward reduced burnout and improved self-rated health. Reward was not significantly associated with work-family conflict. The interaction between effort and reward was significantly associated with all outcomes among permanent contract employees, but was non-significant among those with fixed-term contracts.

  Limitations: Future research would benefit from longitudinal studies where both permanent and fixed-term faculty perceptions of the work environment in relation to outcomes of health and well-being could be compared over time.

  Conclusions – research and or practical implications/Originality/Value: The results suggest that effort and reward may explain health-related outcomes among academic faculty, with the exception of work-family conflict. Reward does not seem to have beneficial effects for work-family conflict. Furthermore, the results indicate that reward may moderate the relationship between effort and outcomes among permanent faculty, while this may not be the case among fixed-term faculty. Perhaps this is because fixed-term faculty expect an imbalance between effort and reward for some duration of time, in anticipation of eventually securing a permanent contract. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of psychosocial work environment factors to understand health-related consequences for permanent and fixed-term faculty in Swedish academia.

  Relevance to the Congress Theme: The conditions in academia continue to change as the characteristics of the job and faculty responsibilities evolve. Moreover, the research and knowledge-production which characterizes academia is constantly reevaluated and updated, reflecting a context which is constantly changing. New research findings must be integrated with prior knowledge, and passed along to the next generation of students. 

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• Contract Type, Psychosocial Work Environment Factors and Burnout in Academia: A Pre-Pandemic Investigation of Academic Employees in Sweden

  2022. Anna Sofia Tanimoto, Anne Richter, Petra Lindfors. Book of Proceedings, 271-272

  Conference

  Background and Aim: Until recently, little research in the Swedish context has investigated how academic employees experience their working conditions and how these are associated with ill- health. One of the ubiquitous characteristics of academia is temporary employment and in Sweden, approximately 30 percent of academic employees have fixed-term contracts. Such temporary employment has been associated with job insecurity, which can negatively impact individuals and their organizations. Thus, temporary and permanent contract types may contribute to different effects. As a job stressor, the job insecurity of different contract forms is one of many psychosocial work environment factors which may account for variations in ill- health among academic employees. Given the prevalence of fixed-term employment, examining contract type acknowledges the heterogeneity of academic employees while furthering knowledge of its role for the perceived work environment and burnout. This study aimed to examine whether factors such as effort, reward, subjective job insecurity and contract type account for variation in burnout, and explored the role contract type plays in the relationship between job insecurity and burnout in academic employees.

  Method: Members of a union for teachers and researchers in higher education in Sweden were invited to an online questionnaire study (25 percent response rate). Only those currently working in academia with a PhD were included resulting in an analytic sample of 1728 individuals, where 57 percent were women, the average age was 47, and 23 percent had fixed- term contracts. Hierarchical multiple regression tested the main effects of psychosocial factors as well as an interaction effect for contract type and job insecurity on burnout.

  Results: Preliminary findings revealed that psychosocial work factors explained around 25% of the variance in burnout. Main effects for effort and job insecurity were associated with increased burnout, while reward was associated with decreased burnout. No main effect was found for contract type and there was no significant interaction between contract type and job insecurity on burnout.

  Discussion: This study explored psychosocial work environment factors in relation to burnout in a sample of academics in Sweden. Our findings showed that perceptions of effort, reward, and job insecurity were relevant for burnout in academics, whereas contract type was not. These results suggest that contract type may not act as a protective nor exacerbating mechanism in the relationship between job insecurity and burnout. This might be explained by the fact that in academia, fixed-term contracts are often prolonged or renewed, and thus that other psychosocial factors may be more informative for work-related ill-health among academics.

  Limitations: This cross-sectional study does not allow for conclusions about the directionality of the relationship between contract type, psychosocial factors, and burnout in academic employees. Furthermore, as some unions are discipline-specific, this sample is not fully representative of academic employees from all disciplines in Sweden. Future research should involve longitudinal designs with more representative samples across academic disciplines.

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• Profiling Job Insecurity Among Full-Time Working Women and Men in Sweden

  2022. Petra Lindfors, Anna Sofia Tanimoto, Lena Låstad. Book of Proceedings, 321-322

  Conference

  Research has consistently shown adverse consequences of job insecurity. Such adversity includes poorer mental and physical health as well as reduced well-being. Moreover, findings suggest that job insecurity increases interference between work and family domains. While most job insecurity research focuses on quantitative aspects, including overall worries regarding the future existence of a job, there is a qualitative dimension which includes worries about losing valued characteristics of the job. Studies of the two dimensions suggest that quantitative and qualitative job insecurity have diverse effects on different health-related outcomes. This makes it meaningful to investigate whether and how individuals and groups vary in their job insecurity perceptions across these two dimensions. While most studies have taken on a variable-oriented approach focusing on relationships between variables and the identification of predictors and consequences in specific populations, it tends to neglect variation between individuals. A person-oriented approach, including for instance latent profile analysis, uses the variation between individuals to form groups of individuals with similar variability. This study investigates such individual differences in perceptions of quantitative and qualitative job insecurity to go beyond categorizations of high and low job insecurity and forward the understanding of how individuals within a population may vary in their experiences. Specifically, the aim was to explore whether it would be possible to identify different job insecurity profiles among women and men working full-time. Moreover, variations between profiles in work/home interference, health, and well-being were investigated.

  We invited working women and men with positions requiring a higher education, aged 32-58 years and residing in Sweden, to a questionnaire study (response rate: 56 per cent). The analysis included self-ratings of quantitative and qualitative job insecurity, work/home interference, health, and well-being, and demographics, from 1169 full-time working adults (52.4 per cent women). Latent profile analysis was performed to identify profiles. Subsequent analyses included profile comparisons of demographics, work/home interference, health, and well-being. Four different job insecurity profiles were identified: 1) Secure (n = 715), 2) Secure: quality concerned (n = 238), 3) Insecure: employment concerned (n = 149), and 4) Insecure (n = 67). Comparing the profiles, significant differences emerged for work/home interference (i.e., family/work conflict), self-rated health, and well-being. As would be expected, the Secure had better self-rated health and well-being than the others, while the finding for family/work conflict seemed less consistent.

  Obviously, the study design limits conclusions regarding causality. Also, the study included full- time workers with a higher education which limits generalization. Yet, it was possible to distinguish different job insecurity profiles also in more privileged populations. Although the Secure profile was by far the largest, other profiles were characterized by concerns regarding overall insecurity, the employment, or job qualities. Using a person-oriented approach, this study adds to the fine-grained understanding of individual differences of job insecurity as an occupational stressor. This is important to facilitate targeted communication to vulnerable groups when organizational resources are limited, which, in turn, is key for developing a sustainable working life.

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• Vad vet vi om fackets roll i ett föränderligt arbetsliv?

  2021. Johnny Hellgren (et al.). Konferensbok FALF 14-16 juni 2021, 58-58

  Conference

  Bakgrund: Genom att samverka med arbetsgivarparter och organisera yrkesverksamma personer har fackföreningar bidragit till flera förändringar som främjat en positiv utveckling på arbetsmarknaden. Den här utvecklingen inkluderar reglering av arbetstid, semester, sjukfrånvaro och säkerhet i arbetet. Sammantaget har detta fackliga arbete bidragit till att främja en god arbetsmiljö. Likväl finns idag en diskussion kring legitimiteten i fackföreningarsarbete. Den diskussionen utgår från det faktum att den fackliga anslutningsgraden minskat över tid, med lägre anslutningsgrad särskilt bland individer som arbetar deltid, har tidsbegränsade anställningskontrakt eller i övrigt har osäkra anställningsvillkor. Det bidrar till frågor om vilken kunskap som egentligen finns när det gäller fackets roll och attityder till facklig anslutning i ett arbetsliv som i allt högre grad utmärks av osäkra anställningsvillkor.

  Syfte: Mot bakgrund av det syftade den här systematiska litteraturöversikten till att sammanställa aktuell forskning om facket och anställda med olika typer av osäkra och tillfälliga anställningar. Mer specifikt var fokus riktat mot att undersöka attityder till facket och facklig anslutningsgrad bland anställda med otrygga anställningar, i vilken utsträckning fackligt medlemskap kan utgöra ett skydd mot otrygga anställningsvillkor, vad fackligt medlemskap kan betyda för arbetsrelaterade attityder och beteenden samt olika aspekter av hälsa samt hur fackliga organisationer arbetar för att rekrytera personer med atypiska anställningskontrakt.

  Metod: Tidigare studier identifierades genom systematisk litteratursökning i för området relevanta databaser med avgränsning till litteratur publicerad från 2010 och framåt. Dessa bedömes sedan av oberoende bedömare som relevanta eller irrelevanta för frågeställningen. Slutligen sammanställdes resultat för olika delområden.

  Resultat: Över lag visar resultaten att medlemskap i facket kan ha en stödjande funktion för individer med osäkra anställningsvillkor och för dem som upplever otrygghet, men att benägenheten att organisera sig fackligt är lägre bland anställda med otrygga anställningar jämfört med anställda med mer typiska anställningskontrakt. I linje med vad som konstaterats i tidigare studier är kunskapen fortfarande begränsad kring attityder till facket och kopplingar till olika arbets- och hälsorelaterade aspekter, inte minst hos de grupper som innehar olika former av tidsbegränsade och osäkra anställningar. Det motiverar ytterligare empiriska studier som fokuserar på olika aspekter av fackets roll i ett föränderligt arbetsliv där det finns en större variation i olika typer av anställningsformer.

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• Variabler eller individer

  2021. Petra Lindfors, Anna Sofia Tanimoto, Lena Låstad. Konferensbok FALF 14-16 juni 2021., 87-87

  Conference

  Forskning har visat att upplevelser av anställningsotrygghet bland arbetstagare är förenade med negativa konsekvenser i form av exempelvis sämre hälsa och lägre välbefinnande. Merparten av den tidigare forskningen utgår från en så kallat variabel-orienterad ansats. Det betyder att fokus ligger på att undersöka samband, prediktorer och konsekvenser av anställningsotrygghet. Den här ansatsen medför vissa begränsningar i och med att den inte tar tillräcklig hänsyn till det faktum att samband kan se olika ut i olika grupper av individer. Det hänger samman med att olika grupper av individer kan uppfatta anställningsotrygghet på olika sätt. Sådana variationer kan i sin tur ha olika konsekvenser för hälsa och välbefinnande. Istället för en variabel-orienterad ansats kan en person-orienterad ansats användas för att beskriva variationer mellan olika grupper av individer. För att klargöra om en person orienterad ansats kan tillföra något behöver upplevelser i anställningsotrygghet undersökas utifrån en sådan ansats. Den här empiriska studien syftade till att 1) undersöka om det är möjligt att urskilja olika kombinationer av upplevd anställningsotrygghet bland yrkesarbetande kvinnor och män och 2) om olika sådana kombinationer är kopplade till olika upplevelser av hälsa och välbefinnande. Självrapporterad anställningsotrygghet, inkluderande såväl kvantitativa som kvalitativa aspekter, samt hälsa och välbefinnande samlades in genom enkäter som besvarades av ungefär 1300 yrkesarbetande kvinnor och män. Person-orienterade analyser genomfördes med utgångspunkt i kvantitativ respektive kvalitativ anställningsotrygghet. Ytterligare analyser inkluderade gruppjämförelser avseende hälsa och välbefinnande för att undersöka variationer kopplade till olika kombinationer av anställningsotrygghet.De person-orienterade analyserna visade att det är möjligt att särskilja grupper med olika kombinationer av anställningsotrygghet. Det går alltså att identifiera olika profiler. Dessa profiler förekommer i olika utsträckning. Vidare jämförelser visade också på variationer i hälsa och välbefinnande. Sammantaget visar resultaten alltså att en person-orienterad ansats kan tillföra värdefull kunskap om olika grupper av individer. Det kan vara viktigt för att förstå och kunna möta olika grupper i arbetslivet med profilerade insatser.

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