I have extensive experience teaching, supervising, and examining students at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels, as well as within the psychology program. I have taught a wide range of courses in Work and Organizational Psychology and in research methodology at the Department of Psychology.

Currently, I lecture on topics such as psychological contracts and temporary employment, mixed methods, case studies, and individual perspectives on work and organization within both the PAO program and the psychology program. I supervise theses at both bachelor’s and master’s level and teach doctoral courses on sustainable careers and psychometrics.

Research Funding and Current Projects

Since completing my PhD in 2008, I have, as principal or co-applicant, received research funding from various sources, including the Academy of Finland, FORTE, the Swedish Retail and Wholesale Development Council, NOS-HS, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Skandia, the Swedish Research Council (VR), and VINNOVA.

This funding has supported research on workplace transitions and competence transfer in times of organizational change (in collaboration with Gunnar Aronsson and Katharina Näswall); studies on job lock and its long-term effects on health (with Hugo Westerlund, Gunnar Aronsson, P.O. Östergren, and Johanna Stengård); and investigations into the role of organizational justice during periods of insecurity and change, and its impact on health, well-being, sick leave, and employee turnover (in collaboration with Constanze Leineweber and Constanze Eib).

Together with Susanna Toivanen, Constanze Eib, and Aleksandra Bujacz, I have also explored self-employed individuals’ working conditions and health over time, and examined the meaning of creative occupations and the opportunities and challenges related to entrepreneurship in Sweden.

Currently, I am part of the research program NOWSTARS (funded by FORTE), which focuses on employment forms. Within the framework of this program, I serve on the steering group and conduct research in two subprojects that investigate client-based work through consulting or self-employment, or by starting one’s own business.

My ongoing research focuses on individuals’ opportunities to create sustainable employment and working conditions that can support long-term career development. I am particularly interested in understanding the psychological mechanisms that link employment conditions and organizational factors to work-related attitudes, health, well-being, and behavioral outcomes – such as resignation, career change, or extended working life.

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Conditions for workplace learning and career development: Narratives among temporary agency workers

  2025. Lena Låstad, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel.

  Conference

  The objective – Temporary agency work (TAW) means being hired out to client organizations on an assignment basis, thus recurrently switching to new assignments. For workers, this constitutes a context with specific conditions for workplace learning and career development. Formal learning opportunities are known to be restricted, but there is limited research focusing on individual agency and possibilities – or hinders – to learn and develop in order to create meaningful and sustainable careers in the context of TAW. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore how temporary agency workers can use individual agency to influence their development and person-environment fit in meaningful ways, thereby contributing to career sustainability.

  Methods – We conducted semi-structured theme-focused interviews with 22 temporary agency workers. After verbatim transcriptions, all interviews were analyzed with narrative analysis. Five typical narratives were identified: (a) The flexible worker, (b) TAW as a side gig, (c) TAW as a stepping stone, (d) Return to work as TAW, and (e) TAW as a dead-end.

  Results – The five narratives offer different perspectives on development and meaningfulness, as TAW is seen as an investment in future career sustainability, an investment into regaining sustainability, an indirect investment in a future sustainable career, or as a sustainable or unsustainable situation in itself. In each narrative, learning and career development are individualized (require agency), and individual agency is restricted by the nature of the TAW contract (e.g., work tasks defined in contract) and the TAW policy at the client organization (buffer vs. recruitment strategy). Career development and developmental learning is primarily shaped by changing assignments or being recruited by the client organization.

  Conclusion – This study elicits cohesive narratives of how temporary agency workers independently become agentic and identify their needs for learning and development to move forward, thereby creating meaning around TAW and their careers. 

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• Illegitimate tasks in the public sector—associations with work engagement, stress, and turnover intention: the moderating role of leadership

  2025. Rebecca Fältén, Erik Berntson, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel. Nordic Psychology

  Article

  Illegitimate tasks are responsibilities that fall outside the accepted scope of an employee’s role and have been shown to negatively impact employee well-being, especially in the public sector. Despite repeated calls for multilevel models to explore whether the negative effects of illegitimate tasks can be mitigated by leadership behaviour, research remains limited. This study examines how the two dimensions of illegitimate tasks, unnecessary and unreasonable tasks, are associated with work engagement, stress, and turnover intention employing multilevel analysis while exploring the moderating role of transformational leadership. Using questionnaires and register data from a Swedish municipality, the study included 1721 employees. The findings indicate that more unnecessary and unreasonable tasks decrease work engagement, increase stress levels, and make it more likely that employees intend to leave their jobs. Moreover, aggregated at the workgroup level, transformational leadership moderates the relationship between unreasonable tasks and turnover intention. Specifically, higher levels of transformational leadership reduce the negative effects of unreasonable tasks on turnover intention. A similar trend is observed for the relationship between unnecessary tasks and stress, where transformational leadership marginally buffers this association. The findings in the study suggest that organisations should prioritise enhancing task alignment to minimise the prevalence of illegitimate tasks. However, as eliminating such tasks entirely may be challenging, fostering transformational leadership behaviours could help mitigate their negative impact, particularly on turnover intention.

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• Perceived Safety Conditions and Self-Management: How Do They Associate With Stress of Conscience Among Nurses and Other Healthcare Workers?

  2025. Mari Herttalampi, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel, Taru Feldt. Journal of Advanced Nursing

  Article

  Aims: To investigate how team psychological safety and organisational psychosocial safety climate associate with self-management and hindrance- and violation-related stress of conscience among nurses and other healthcare workers.

  Design: A longitudinal survey study with two data points.

  Methods: Healthcare personnel (n = 241, 40% nurses) rated perceived safety in 2021, possibilities to self-manage their work in 2023, and stress of conscience in 2021 and 2023.

  Results: Team psychological safety and organisational psychosocial safety climate positively predicted self-management of executing work, whereas only the organisational part predicted self-management of leading work. Unexpectedly, self-management of leading one's work was positively associated with hindrance-related stress of conscience.

  Conclusion: When employees feel safe to take interpersonal risks in their team and have possibilities to prioritise their work goals and influence the ways work performance is measured, it can increase, rather than reduce, feelings of not being able to act according to what the employee sees as morally right.

  Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care: Providing adequate resources to meet the insights arising from a psychologically safe work team seem to be especially important for nurses.

  Impact: Healthcare employees need possibilities to actualize and follow through the insights that can emerge from having high psychological safety and high opportunities for self-management.

  Reporting Method: The STROBE checklist.

  Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution.

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• Are you in or are you out? A longitudinal person-centered study of health and entrance and exit into self-employment

  2024. Louise E. Bergman (et al.). BRQ Business Research Quarterly

  Article

  This study addresses the scarcity of research on health developments in the heterogeneous group of self-employed workers. It aims at understanding typical health progressions in this group and associations with demographic factors, work characteristics, and self-employment decisions. We investigate health profiles based on mental health problems, self-rated health, and work satisfaction, as well as transitions between them in relation to work effort, reward, overcommitment, demographic characteristics, and entrance and exit into self-employment. Using latent transition analysis, we analyzed data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH), including data from 593 participants. We identified four distinct, stable health profiles, revealing associations with work effort, reward, overcommitment, and self-employment decisions. No meaningful relations existed for demographic characteristics. Overall, the findings offer a comprehensive perspective on the health dynamics of self-employed individuals, their associations with work characteristics and decisions to enter and exit self-employment. JEL CLASSIFICATION: J62; J81; L26

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• Flourish, fight or flight: health in self-employment over time-associations with individual and business resources

  2024. Claudia Bernhard-Oettel (et al.). International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 97, 263-278

  Article

  Purpose: Using COR theory to study developments of health and other key resources in self-employed workers in Sweden over 6 years, this study: (1) explored whether the heterogenous group of self-employed workers contained subgroups with different health trajectories, (2) investigated whether these were more typical for certain individuals (with respect to age, gender, sector, education, employment status), and (3) compared the different health trajectories regarding resource development in mental well-being, business resources, employment status, work ability. Method: The study used data from the Swedish longitudinal occupational survey of health (SLOSH) and included participants working as self-employed or combiner (N = 2642). Result: Five trajectories were identified with latent class growth curve model analysis (LCGM). Two health trajectories with (1) very good, respective (2) good stable health (together comprising 78.5% of the participants), (3) one with moderate stable health (14.8%), (4) one with a U-shaped form (1.9%), and (5) one with low, slightly increasing health (4.7%). The first two trajectories flourish: they maintained or increased in all key resources and were more likely to remain self-employed. Trajectories three and five consist of those who fight to maintain or increase their resources. Workers in the U-shaped health trajectory show signs of fight and flight after loss in health and other key resources. Conclusions: Studying subgroups with different resource developments over time was suitable to understand heterogeneity in self-employed workers. It also helped to identify vulnerable groups that may benefit from interventions to preserve their resources.

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• How are organisational conditions related to illegitimate tasks among managers and their subordinates in the public sector?: A Swedish study

  2024. Rebecca Fältén, Erik Berntson, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel. Work & Stress 38 (3), 270-292

  Article

  Illegitimate tasks violate the norms of what is considered part of the employee's work role and have been found to harm individuals, groups and organisations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between key organisational conditions - span of control, recruitment needs, administrative support and organisational changes - and the prevalence of unnecessary and unreasonable illegitimate tasks experienced by managers and their subordinates. Data were collected from a sample comprising 80 managers and 863 subordinates in a Swedish municipality using questionnaires to assess their perceptions of illegitimate tasks. Organisational conditions were collected from the human resources register in the municipality. Multilevel analysis results reveal a positive association between the size of workgroups and illegitimate tasks; the more subordinates per workgroup, the more unnecessary and unreasonable tasks managers reported and the more unreasonable tasks the subordinates reported. These findings hold practical implications for organisations because they indicate that illegitimate tasks can be reduced by decreasing the number of employees in larger workgroups.

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• The Paradox of Job Retention Schemes: A Latent Growth Curve Modeling Approach to Immediate and Prolonged Effects of Short-Time Work on Job Insecurity and Employee Well-Being

  2024. Katharina Klug, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel, Magnus Sverke. Journal of Happiness Studies 25 (6)

  Article

  Many countries rely on short-time work to prevent mass layoffs in economic crises. Despite serving to protect jobs, short-time work may trigger job insecurity perceptions, which may impair employee well-being. Moreover, past experiences of unemployment may increase susceptibility to job insecurity in response to short-time work. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, Appraisal Theory and temporal stressor-strain models, this study investigates effects of short-time work on the development of job satisfaction, life satisfaction and affective well-being via perceived job insecurity across 6 years, considering previous unemployment as a moderator. We used propensity score matching to account for selectivity into short-time work and calculated latent growth curve models with N = 1211 employees in Germany (619 affected by short-time work, 592 controls). Short-time work predicted higher levels and an immediate increase in job insecurity, followed by a decrease over time. Both levels and changes in job insecurity were associated with levels and changes in well-being. Indirect effects of short-time work on well-being via job insecurity persisted 2 years after short-time work. We found no difference between previously unemployed respondents and others in their reactions to short-time work. The findings support COR theory and a prolonged stress-reaction model, showing lingering effects on well-being via job insecurity even after short-time work ends. The study supports short-time work as an antecedent of job insecurity and reveals temporal dynamics between job insecurity, its antecedents and outcomes over time. When implementing short-time work, employers should aim to mitigate concerns about job security to protect employee well-being.

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• Women’s and men’s experiences with participative decision-making at workplace and organizational levels

  2024. Clara Plückelmann (et al.). Frontiers in Psychology 14

  Article

  Introduction: The concept of participative decision-making (PDM) has been well established as a positive organizational factor, and has recently gained attention as a measure of gender inclusivity in the workplace. However, findings regarding gender differences in the experiences of PDM are inconclusive. This study hypothesized that women perceive themselves as less influential than men at the organizational level rather than at the workplace level. Furthermore, the study explored whether these assumed gender differences depend on the gender typicality of occupational positions and professions. We expected gender differences to be more pronounced for male-typed positions and professions (e.g., leadership, engineer) compared to non-male-typed occupational positions and professions (e.g., non-leadership, nurse).

  Methods: Data on experiences with participative decision-making at the workplace and organizational levels were drawn from a large representative Swedish survey (N = 10,500; 60% women).

  Results: Results showed that women experienced being less influential than men at the organizational level, whereas the experiences of women and men did not differ at the workplace level. The gender difference at the organizational level was not related to the gender typicality of position and profession.

  Discussion: The findings highlight the importance of the inclusion of both women and men in strategic, large-scale decisions for achieving gender equality at work.

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• Organizational injustice and sickness absence: The moderating role of locked-in status

  2023. Paraskevi Peristera (et al.). SSM - Population Health 23

  Article

  Organizational injustice is known to negatively affect employees' health and to increase the risk for sickness absence. The negative health effects are also known to be more pronounced in uncontrollable, strain increasing, situations at the workplace. This study tests whether locked-in status, i.e., being stuck in a non-preferred workplace, modifies the associations between injustice perceptions and frequent (>= 2 times/yr) and long (>= 8 days/yr) sickness absence. The sample contained 2631 permanent employees from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health in 2018 and 2020. Multigroup structural equation modelling was used to compare the proposed relationships between employees who are locked-in in their workplace and employees who are not. We found a positive association between higher overall organizational injustice and long sickness absence two years later, with the association being stronger for the locked-in group. Also, higher injustice was associated with more frequent sickness absence, but only for those not being locked-in.

  Employees being locked-in seem to have higher risk of long-term sickness absence which might indicate more serious health problems. Employees not being locked-in more often take short sickness absence, which could indicate a coping behaviour to handle high strain. This study adds knowledge to the role of locked-in status as a moderator in the much-studied relationship between organizational justice and health as well as to the multiple reasons underlying sickness absence.

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• Are Trajectories of Preferred Retirement Ages Associated with Health, Work Ability and Effort–Reward Imbalance at Work? Findings from a 6-Year Swedish Longitudinal Study 

  2023. Marta Sousa-Ribeiro (et al.). Work, Aging and Retirement

  Article

  Preferred retirement age (PRA) is one key dimension when studying retirement decision-making. However, little is known concerning how PRA develops over the late career years. This study used a person-centered approach to longitudinally investigate trajectories of PRA and how they differ in self-rated health, perceived work ability, and effort–reward imbalance (ERI) at baseline levels and over 6 years. The study used data from four waves (2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016) of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health. The sample consisted of 1,510 individuals aged 50–55 in 2010, who answered to the questionnaire for those in paid work (including self-employment) at the baseline and at least one of the following waves. Results from the latent class growth curve modeling show both within- and between-person variability in PRA over the 6-year span. We found four distinct trajectories, which differed both at the baseline levels and in the patterns of change in PRA: “C1: normative, relatively stable PRA” (42% of all participants); “C2: considerably early, increasing PRA” (6% of the participants); “C3: late, relatively stable PRA” (4% of the participants); and “C4: early, increasing PRA” (49% of the participants). Participants revealed a clear preference for retirement before the age of 65. Trajectories comprising earlier PRA showed poorer self-rated health, poorer work ability, and higher levels of ERI at the baseline and over time. The findings reinforce the importance of healthy work environments that promote work ability and facilitate a balance between efforts and rewards for encouraging longer working lives. 

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• Entering and exiting self employment – how do they relate to health and well-being?

  2023. Louise E. Bergman, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel. Book of Abstracts (DRAFT), 415-416

  Conference

  Research goals and motivation: Self-employed workers contribute significantly to our society in terms of economic productivity, job opportunity and innovation. Thus, it is in the interest of our society to support and encourage self employment. It is well documented that self-employed workers – on average – experience higher levels of wellbeing, and less mental health problems than employed workers do. However, self-employed workers are a highly heterogeneous group when it comes to who they are, how they work, and their health status. Thus, averages are not sufficient to inform researchers, policymakers and companies on how to understand the mental health and wellbeing of this group of workers. 

  Workers enter and exit self employment all the time as business opportunities occur, need of an income arises, innovations are created, and businesses fail. However, little is known about the mechanisms behind these career transitions beyond economic factors. Is the decision to start a business related to wellbeing, and how? How many self-employed workers are thriving over time, both when it comes to wellbeing and their business? Who is struggling and experiencing mental health problems, and is this related to exiting self employment? Questions like these currently go unanswered. 

  Theoretical background: This study is mainly exploratory, but mental health problems, wellbeing and how it develops and how it relates to entering and exiting self employment can be related work environment. The effort-reward imbalance model (ERI) has proven to be a good framework to understand health developments, and is adapted and used in this study as theoretical framework. 

  Method: Latent transition analysis (LTA) is used to consider both the longitudinal aspect and the heterogeneity of the group of self-employed workers, in a unique and novel way. We investigate what profiles of mental health and wellbeing exist among self-employed workers, how common they are, and how the workers transition between these profiles over time. Further, we study how the profiles and transitions between them relate to entrepreneurial entrance and exit, work environment factors (ERI) and background variables (i.e., age and gender). 

  We use data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) The current study is based on participants who responded to the 5 th -7 th wave of SLOSH conducted in 2014 (response rate 53%), 2016 (response rate 51%) and 2018 (response rate 48%). In this study, we use respondents who were self-employed at any of the three time points (N=2327). 

  Results: Results of all statistical analyses will be available when the conference takes place. Preliminary findings of factor analysis show that all scales have adequate fit and factor loadings. Based on previous research we expect to find at least one profile of relatively good mental health and wellbeing, as well as profiles with less advantageous mental health. We also expect that work environment factors are linked to health profiles such that better health is found in workers with less ERI. ERI, a well-documented theoretic model, is used to validate the health and wellbeing profiles. Probably, exits out of or entrance into self employment is related to changes in health and work environment. Mechanisms, the number of transitions, and the temporal order will be explored in our study. 

  Limitations: The limitations of this study lie in the exploratory nature of the analysis, and more studies will be needed to further validate any found profiles. 

  Relevance to congress theme: This study is relevant to the first theme of the congress: Careers and the labour market. Specifically, career transitions and employee mobility. With regard to the UN SDG, our study addresses good health and wellbeing and decent work and economic growth. 

  Conclusions: Exact conclusions will depend on the findings, but the study is one of the first to focus on health profiles of self-employed workers, and ways in which these workers’ mental health and wellbeing changes in relation to ERI and decisions to change employment. The results will yield a better understanding of how self-employed workers thrive or struggle, and how to identify the ones that struggle. This will also help to discuss potential possibilities to create better circumstances or preventive tools to shape decent work and sustainability of careers that involve self employment.

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• Entrepreneurial action and eudaimonic well-being in a crisis: Insights from entrepreneurs in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic

  2023. Constanze Eib, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel. Economic and Industrial Democracy

  Article

  Based on transactional stress theory, this article provides an empirical glimpse into how entrepreneurs in Sweden have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors investigated the impact of two crisis-induced stressors (unpredictability, loneliness) on two aspects of entrepreneurial success (business and personal success) through the indirect effect of eudaimonic well-being. They examined the role of crisis-related entrepreneurial actions (applying for government financial support, engaging in online business activities). Results from a sample of entrepreneurs operating in Sweden in the summer of 2020 revealed that unpredictability and loneliness were negatively related to business and personal success via eudaimonic well-being. Results for the moderating effects of the crisis-related entrepreneurial actions revealed mixed findings. The results provide valuable insights into the mechanisms that tie entrepreneurial stressors and opportunities for action to eudaimonic well-being, and in turn, entrepreneurial success in the early days of the crisis caused by the pandemic.

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• Narrated Experiences of Sexual and Gender Minority Refugees: Resilience in the Context of Hardship from Pre- to Post-Migration

  2023. Markus Byström (et al.). Nordic Journal of Migration Research 13 (1)

  Article

  Refugees from sexual and gender minorities (SGMs) face particular hardships, which demand adaptive responses. This pilot study explored SGM refugees’ experiences of resilience within the context of hardship from pre- to post-migration. Eleven semi-structured interviews with SGM refugees who had migrated to Sweden were analysed using thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: (1) Concealing Identity in Response to Pervasive Oppression, (2) Living in Suspension, (3) External Sources of Support and (4) Strength from Within. Respondents reported utilising limited external resources and employing considerable internal resources in order to navigate and survive in the face of hardships that carried over and shifted across time. A more nuanced understanding of the connections between resilience and hardship is needed to inform post-migration reception practices and service provision in order to facilitate resilience in SGM refugees. 

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• Women´s and men´s experiences with participative decision making at workplace and organisational levels

  2023. Clara Plückelmann (et al.).

  Conference

  Participative decision-making (PDM) refers to the involvement of both employees and managers in decision-making processes, allowing them to provide input on work-related or organizational matters. Evaluating gender equality in decision-making power is important for organizations, as it impacts various work-related outcomes.This study examined gender differences in PDM in Swedish organizations. In this study, the focus was on direct PDM at the workplace and organizational levels.The study involved a large nationally representative survey in Sweden with 10,500 participants from different types of occupations. The results revealed that women perceived themselves to be less influential at the organizational level, while no gender differences were found at the individual workplace level.

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• Well-being of high skilled workers: Disentangling person and tasks effects

  2022. Louise Bergman, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel, Aleksandra Bujacz. 15th EAOHP Conference 2022. Supporting knowledge comparison to promote good practice in occupational health psychology, 564-565

  Conference

  Research goals and why the work was worth doing: Research of well-being and positive affect of workers have previous mainly been focused on a general level. These previous studies have not yet disentangled whether positive affect can be linked to task-by-task experience at work, or whether it mainly varies between different people with different types of work. The purpose of this study was to differentiate between the general level, task level, and type of employment in self-determination, meaningfulness of work and positive affect, thus contributing to the understanding of how to best assess well-being. The novelty and contribution of this study lies in the analysis strategy that allows for disentangling the effect that specific work tasks may have on workers' positive affect. Specifically, the use of multi-level modelling on the data gathered with the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) allows us to describe relationships between positive affect, self-determination, and meaningfulness of work at both person and task level. Multilevel studies assessing the intrapersonal variability of experienced well-being on not only a day-level, but also a task level, are rare and much needed to better understand the dynamics of well-being during a workday.

  Theoretical background: Researchers have connected positive affect – which represents momentary well-being experiences such as happiness, engagement, and inspiration – to high levels of general well-being and better health. High levels of positive affect is often attributed to higher levels of self-determination, and meaningfulness of work. Workers experiencing more self-determination and meaningfulness of work should experience more positive affect, and tasks experienced as more self-determined and meaningful should lead to more positive affect. Additionally, self-employed workers are suggested to have a more self-determined career choice in itself, and thus higher levels of positive affect.

  Design/Methodology/Approach/Intervention: In this study we tested whether H1) workers experiencing more self-determination and meaningfulness of work report higher levels of positive affect, H2) tasks experienced as more self-determined and meaningful are related to more positive affect, and H3) self-employed workers experience stronger relationships of task level self-determination and meaningfulness with positive affect than employed workers. We used a sample of 175 high skilled self-employed and employed workers, who reported self-determination, meaningfulness of work and positive affect for a total of 560 tasks during a workday by the DRM. DRM facilitates access to momentary experiences stored in memory, providing reliable estimates of intensity and variations of affect during the day. First, we tested two separate multilevel multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) models for momentary positive affect (outcome side of the model), as well as self-determination and meaningfulness of tasks (predictor side of the model), and then tested the models for measurement invariance. Since tasks were nested within individuals we fitted a bayesian structural equation model with random slopes with self-determination and meaningfulness of work and employment type as predictors and positive affect as an outcome variable.

  Results obtained: Results indicated that workers experiencing more self-determination and meaningfulness of work reported more positive affect, that tasks experienced as more self-determined also elicited higher levels of positive affect, and that there was a small positive effect of self employment on positive affect. The self-determination and meaningfulness of tasks seem to be more important to positive affect than employment type. The relationship between self employment on positive affect have been assumed by earlier research, but our study is the first to test and show that this indeed may be the case. However, other factors such as self-determination might be more important to task level positive affect.

  Limitations: We studied high-skilled worker, choosing this population facilitated comparison of groups of workers, as many background variables were similar, however, this does affect the generalizability of the results. As consequence, one limitation is that a fairly small sample. Further, we used DRM and a drawback of this method is that it is not in the moment assessment, but rather recorded after the tasks of the day. However, DRM still have practical benefits as it might elevate the response rate in contrast to in the moment reports, because it is difficult for the respondent to make pauses during their workday.

  Research/Practical Implications: These findings may inform researchers on how to best assess well-being, and organizations on how to design work of workers to elevate positive affect and thus, well-being, and health. We have empirically confirmed the assumptions of a positive relationship between self employment and positive affect of previous studies, and that this relationship might be less important than other factors such as self-determination.

  Originality/Value: The originality of this research lies in the multi-level structure of the method and analysis, as well as the comparison of groups of workers.

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• “Good job!”: Therapists' encouragement, affirmation, and personal address in internet-based cognitive behavior therapy for adolescents with depression

  2022. Ida Berg (et al.). Internet Interventions 30

  Article

  Internet-delivered interventions are generally effective for psychological problems. While the presence of a clinician guiding the client via text messages typically leads to better outcomes, the characteristics of what constitutes high-quality communication are less well investigated. This study aimed to identify how an internet therapist most effectively communicates with clients in internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT). Using data from a treatment study of depressed adolescents with a focus on participants who had a positive outcome, messages from therapists were analyzed using thematic analysis. The study focused on the therapist's 1) encouragement and 2) affirmation, and how the therapists used 3) personal address. The analysis resulted in a total of twelve themes (Persistence Wins, You Are a Superhero, You Make Your Luck, You Understand, Hard Times, You Are Like Others, My View on the Matter, Time for a Change, Welcome In, Let Me Help You, You Affect Me, and I Am Human). Overall, the themes form patterns where treatment is described as hard work that requires a motivated client who is encouraged by the therapist. The findings are discussed based on the cognitive behavioral theoretical foundation of the treatment, prior research on therapist behaviors, and the fact that the treatment is provided over the internet.

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• Act or Wait-and-See? Adversity, Agility, and Entrepreneur Wellbeing across Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  2022. Ute Stephan (et al.). Entrepreneurship

  Article

  How can entrepreneurs protect their wellbeing during a crisis? Does engaging agility (namely, opportunity agility and planning agility) in response to adversity help entrepreneurs safeguard their wellbeing? Activated by adversity, agility may function as a specific resilience mechanism enabling positive adaption to crisis. We studied 3162 entrepreneurs from 20 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that more severe national lockdowns enhanced firm-level adversity for entrepreneurs and diminished their wellbeing. Moreover, entrepreneurs who combined opportunity agility with planning agility experienced higher wellbeing but planning agility alone lowered wellbeing. Entrepreneur agility offers a new agentic perspective to research on entrepreneur wellbeing.

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• Anställningsformer och anställningsotrygghet i ett föränderligt arbetsliv

  2021. Petra Lindfors, Claudia Bernhard-Oettel. Konferensbok FALF 14-16 juni 2021, 20-21

  Conference

  Bakgrund och syfte

  Även om arbetsmarknaden i Sverige fortfarande domineras av tillsvidareanställningar har många yrkesarbetande tidsbegränsade anställningskontrakt som varierar i längd och garanterad arbetstid. Senare års omstruktureringar visar också att tillsvidareanställningar kan upphöra. Sammantaget kan det här bidra till ökad osäkerhet och otrygghet oberoende av anställningskontrakt vilket i sin tur reser frågor om hur fackets roll, arbetsvillkor, arbetsrelaterade attityder, arbetsrelaterad hälsa och välbefinnande varierar bland kvinnor och män med olika anställningskontrakt och varierande upplevelser av anställningsotrygghet. Det här symposiet för samman fyra konferensbidrag som gemensamt syftar till att diskutera ochproblematisera 1) hur vi kan beskriva och undersöka anställningsformer ochanställningsotrygghet i dagens arbetsliv, 2) kopplingar mellan anställningsotrygghet ochprestation, 3) olika sätt att analysera kopplingar mellan anställningsotrygghet ochhälsorelaterade konsekvenser, och 4) fackets roll i det föränderliga arbetslivet.

  Upplägg

  Det här symposiet utgår från följande fyra konferensbidrag nämligen 1) Hur kan anställningsformer och anställningsotrygghet i dagens arbetsliv beskrivas och undersökas? Claudia Bernhard-Oettel

  2) Anställningsotrygghet och prestation: resultat från en meta-analys. Lena Låstad med medarbetare

  3) Variabler eller individer: kan individfokus ge profilerad kunskap? Petra Lindfors med medarbetare

  4) Vad vet vi om fackets roll i ett föränderligt arbetsliv? Johnny Hellgren med medarbetare

  Utöver att presentatörerna inom ramen för sina respektive presentationer bidrar med problematiserande diskussion kommer de som bevistar symposiet att ombes bidra med reflektioner, råd och framåtblickande inspel. Därmed är förhoppningen att det här interaktiva symposiet resulterar i att alla deltagare gemensamt bidrar till att identifiera olika typer av utmaningar och hinder inom området med fokus på trender och tendenser, praktiska tips och råd på såväl mikro- som makronivå inför den kommande 5-årsperioden. Det här upplägget hänger samman med att symposiet avser samla kunskap av relevans för insatser avseende framtidens arbetsliv med fokus på anställningsvillkor och otrygghet. Därmed är förhoppningen att symposiet utgör ett led i att på sikt kunna klargöra betydelsen av anställningsvillkor och otrygghet för kvinnor och män i olika skeden av livet, i olika yrken, branscher och sektorer för att på sikt kunna bidra till långsiktig hållbarhet i arbetslivet.

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• Comparing Depressive Symptoms, Emotional Exhaustion, and Sleep Disturbances in Self-Employed and Employed Workers

  2021. Louise E. Bergman (et al.). Frontiers in Psychology 11

  Article

  Studies investigating differences in mental health problems between self-employed and employed workers have provided contradictory results. Many of the studies utilized scales validated for employed workers, without collecting validity evidence for making comparisons with self-employed. The aim of this study was (1) to collect validity evidence for three different scales assessing depressive symptoms, emotional exhaustion, and sleep disturbances for employed workers, and combinators; and (2) to test if these groups differed. We first conducted approximate measurement invariance analysis and found that all scales were invariant at the scalar level. Self-employed workers had least mental health problems and employed workers had most, but differences were small. Though we found the scales invariant, we do not find them optimal for comparison of means. To be more precise in describing differences between groups, we recommend using clinical cut-offs or scales developed with the specific purpose of assessing mental health problems at work.

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• Exploring Lived Experiences of Parents of Youth and Youth with a Foreign Background in Sweden

  2021. Laura Ferrer-Wreder (et al.). Child and Youth Care Forum 50, 453-470

  Article

  Background: Sweden is in transition when it comes to the immigrant experience. More research is needed to document the life circumstances and adjustment of those with foreign background living in Sweden.

  Objective: This study investigated the lived experiences of parents of youths and young people themselves who have an Iraqi or Syrian background and are living in Sweden.

  Method: This cross-sectional qualitative interview study focused on a sample of parents of youth and youth (N = 26) with a foreign background. Participants were either born in Syria or Iraq or had one or both parents born in these countries and had migrated to Sweden. Participant interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.

  Results: In relation to the study aim, the analysis indicated three main themes in participants’ responses which concerned life in Sweden, feeling at home, and coping.

  Conclusions: Overall, these themes reflected how the perception of everyday experiences relates to adjustment within a multi-cultural urban Swedish context. This study showed how participants with a foreign background are rich in their own diversity of experiences and viewpoints. Results also pointed towards the promise of social policy and services aimed at benefiting those with a foreign background if such efforts are situated in the microsystems that provide life daily structure, as well as in contexts that offer socialization and networking opportunities (e.g., training, education, work, and school). Further, such action should consider the importance of the extended family as part of family-focused initiatives.

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• Health- and Age-Related Workplace Factors as Predictors of Preferred, Expected, and Actual Retirement Timing

  2021. Marta Sousa-Ribeiro (et al.). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (5)

  Article

  To address the challenges of demographic aging, governments and organizations encourage extended working lives. This study investigates how individual health- and age-related workplace factors contribute to preferred, expected and actual retirement timing, as well as to the congruency between preferences vs. expectations, and preferences vs. actual retirement. We used data from a representative Swedish longitudinal sample comprising 4058 workers aged 50–64, with follow-up data regarding actual retirement timing available for 1164 respondents. Multinomial logistic regression analyses suggest that later preferred, expected, and actual retirement timing were, to different extent, influenced by better health, an age-friendly workplace and feeling positive regarding the future at work. Emotional exhaustion, age-related inequalities at work and experiencing aging as an obstacle increased the likelihood of preferring to retire earlier than one expected to, over retiring at the time one expected to. Those with better health and positive work prospects were less likely to prefer retiring earlier than they expected to, and more likely to being “pulled toward working until 65 and beyond”, compared to being “pulled toward early retirement”. Experiencing aging as an obstacle decreased the chances of being “pulled toward working until 65 and beyond”. The results provide insights on how to facilitate extended working lives.

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• Hur kan anställningsformer och anställningsotrygghet idagens arbetsliv beskrivas och undersökas?

  2021. Claudia Bernhard-Oettel. Konferensbok FALF 14-16 juni 2021, 22-22

  Conference

  Bakgrund: Hur är det att arbeta i ett anställningskontrakt som avviker från det som länge har varit normen, nämligen en fast anställning på heltid? I takt med att organisationens behov för flexibilitet och effektivitet har ökat har även en rad alternativa anställningsformer skapats på dagens arbetsmarknad. Det kan t ex handla om visstidsanställningar eller anställningar som vikarie. Det kan vara anställningar som inte garanterar ett visst antal timmar, s k nolltimmeskontrakt. Det kan vara konsultuppdrag, anställningar via bemanningsföretag eller gigs som förmedlas via appar på internet. Dessa anställningsformer kan karakteriseras på olika sätt och de kopplar i olika hög grad till upplevelser av otrygghet sett till vissa innehåll i ett arbete, anställningen som helhet, men även möjligheterna att etablera sig på arbetsmarknaden. Osäkerheten kan också ligga i hur man kan skapa en yrkeskarriär, få ekonomisk trygghet eller tillgång till välfärds- och försäkringssystemet.

  Syfte: Syfte med föreliggande presentation är att karakterisera de olika typer av anställningsformer på ett systematiskt sätt, och att diskutera huruvida dessa är förknippade med olika otrygghetsupplevelser. Ett tredje syfte med presentationen är att belysa hur man som forskare bäst kan undersöka hur anställningsformer och (o)trygghetsupplevelser skiljer sig åt mellan olika människor på arbetsmarknaden. Detta är särskilt viktigt då tidigare forskning har visat att den upplevda otryggheten i en anställning är kopplad till en rad negativa konsekvenser för individen och organisationen.

  Metod: För att få en överblick över de senaste förändringar som rör olika typer av anställningar i Sverige lästes forskningsrapporter och rapporter från myndigheter. Olika fackförbund och en expert i arbetslagstiftningen konsulterades. Genom systematisk litteratursökning identifierades tidigare undersökningar i Sverige och utomlands som analyserade hur olika anställningsvillkoren kan se ut, hur de har klassificerats och vad de betyder för upplevelsen av anställningsotrygghet och andra former av otrygghet.

  Resultat: En systematisk överblick över likheter och skillnader mellan olika anställningsformer presenteras. Nya sätt att arbeta via plattformsarbete eller i egenanställning belyses i detalj. En sammanfattande överblick över kopplingen till olika former av otrygghetsupplevelser ges. Detta leder till slutsatser kring hur forskningsstudiers enkät- och mätverktyg behöver vara utformade för att kunna kartlägga de olikartade anställningsförhållanden som människor i dagens arbetsmarknad kan ha. Avslutningsvis diskuteras utmaningarna för att mäta den upplevda otryggheten som relaterar till dessa olika anställningsformer.

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• The mediating effect of exhaustion in the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and turnover intentions

  2021. Constanze Leineweber (et al.). Journal of Occupational Health 63 (1)

  Article

  Objectives: Earlier studies suggest that imbalance between effort and reward at work associates with exhaustion. Others have found that exhaustion increases turnover intentions; an important precursor of actual turnover that also associates with counterproductive work behaviors. Few, however, have studied the associations between effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and employees’ intentions to leave their current employment, and whether exhaustion is underpinning that relationship. Here, we investigate the mediating role of exhaustion in the effort-reward imbalance – turnover intentions relationship.

  Methods: Data from three waves covering a time span of four years from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) were analysed using structural equation modeling. Cross-lagged mediation analyses were conducted to estimate if associations from ERI to subsequent turnover intentions were mediated by exhaustion. Other causal directions (direct and reversed direct effects, reversed mediation) were also examined.

  Results: A direct path from ERI T1 to turnover intentions T2 was found, but not from ERI T2 to turnover intentions T3. Additionally, results showed that ERI at time points T1/T2 associated significantly with exhaustion two years later (T2/T3). Also, exhaustion at T1 showed a small but statistically significant direct association with turnover intentions at T2 (no association was found between exhaustion T2 and turnover intentions T3). A small, but statistically significant indirect effect from ERI to turnover intentions was found (estimate 0.005; 95% CI 0.002-0.010).

  Conclusions: Providing a good balance between effort and reward for workers is essential to protect employee health and help retain employees in the organization.

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• Trajectories of Procedural and Interactional Justice as Predictors of Retirement among Swedish Workers

  2021. Constanze Eib (et al.). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (12)

  Article

  Organizational justice is an important aspect of the psychosocial work environment, but there is a lack of studies on whether justice perceptions also predict retirement decisions. The aim of this study is to examine trajectories of procedural and interactional justice perceptions prior to retirement of three groups of retirees while considering self-rated health and important demographics. Data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (2006-2018, N = 3000) were used. Respondents were grouped into early retirement, normative retirement and late retirement. Latent growth curve models and multinomial logistic regressions were conducted to test whether trajectories of justice perceptions prior to retirement differed between retirement groups while controlling for self-rated health development and demographic variables. Late retirees had higher intercept levels of interactional justice and higher intercept levels of self-rated health prior to retirement, compared to early retirees. Late retirees also showed a slower decrease in procedural justice compared to early retirees. Only intercept levels of self-rated health differed between early retirees and normative retirees, such that early retirees had lower levels of self-rated health prior to retirement. Keeping employees in the workforce is a major challenge for any aging society. Organizational justice perceptions in the years prior to retirement seem particularly influential for delaying retirement.

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• You can't always get what you want

  2021. Constanze Eib (et al.). International Journal of Human Resource Management

  Article

  An intra-organizational change process involving all middle managers was studied in a public sector organization in Sweden over three time points, spanning two years in total. Using sensemaking and the person-environmental fit literature as well studies on promotion and demotion, hypotheses about the effects of managerial status loss and being offered a non-preferred role (non-preference) on change reactions (job satisfaction, turnover intentions, mental health) are made. Data from 140 middle managers was analyzed with path models, where two process factors (perceived organizational support during the change, procedural justice of the change) and two job characteristics (job demand, job control) were tested simultaneously as mediators. Results revealed that managerial status loss had negative effects on work attitudes but mental health was positively affected over time through decreased job demands. Non-preference had negative consequences for all outcome variables and these effects were mediated through lower procedural justice of the change, lower job control, and for some outcomes, lower perceived organizational support during the change. The results provide insight into how middle managers react to change, and suggest that process justice and job characteristics play an important part in shaping these reactions.

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