Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T07:46:35.194Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

View From the Trenches: Practitioners’ Perspectives on Key Issues and Opportunities in Low-Wage and Frontline Jobs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2016

Michael Sliter*
Affiliation:
FurstPerson, Inc., Chicago, Illinois
Brent Holland
Affiliation:
FurstPerson, Inc., Chicago, Illinois
Katherine Sliter
Affiliation:
FurstPerson, Inc., Chicago, Illinois
Morgan Jones
Affiliation:
FurstPerson, Inc., Chicago, Illinois
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Michael Sliter, FurstPerson, Inc., 8430 West Bryn Mawr Avenue, Number 250, Chicago, IL 60631. E-mail: mike.sliter@furstperson.com

Extract

Bergman and Jean (2016) rightly argue that published research in industrial–organizational (I-O) psychology often underrepresents low-wage and frontline employees in favor of professional workers and management. One possible consequence of this bias is that I-O research may unintentionally marginalize workplace phenomena that impact employees professionally and personally. One example offered by Bergman and Jean is economic tenuousness, a work–life stressor that is more likely to be experienced by low-income and frontline employees. The recent growth in the proportion of individuals employed in low-wage jobs (Albelda & Carr, 2012) reinforces the need to explore the impact of the publication rift between the science and practice of I-O psychology.

Type
Commentaries
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiello, J. R., & Kolb, K. J. (1995). Electronic performance monitoring and social context: Impact on productivity and stress. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80 (3), 339353.Google Scholar
Albelda, R., & Carr, M. (2012). Low-wage and low-income workers in the U.S., 1979–2009. Boston, MA: Center for Social Policy.Google Scholar
Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2003). Dual processes at work in a call centre: An application of the job demands–resources model. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 12, 393417.Google Scholar
Bergman, M. E., & Jean, V. A. (2016). Where have all the “workers” gone? A critical analysis of the unrepresentativeness of our samples relative to the labor market in the industrial–organizational psychology literature. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 9, 84113.Google Scholar
Equifax. (2015). Workforce insights. Retrieved from https://www.talx.com/benchmarks/turnover/ Google Scholar
Hobfoll, S. E., & Shirom, A. (2001). Conservation of resources theory: Applications to stress and management in the workplace. In Golembiewski, R. T. (Ed.), Handbook of organization behavior (2nd ed., pp. 5781). New York, NY: Dekker.Google Scholar
Holland, B., & Lambert, D. (2013). How to measure contact center skills using multimedia simulations. In Fetzer, M. S. & Tuzinski, K. A. (Eds.), Simulations for employee personnel selection (pp. 129156). New York, NY: Springer.Google Scholar
Lorant, V., Croux, C., Weich, S., Deliege, D., Mackenbach, J., & Ansseau, M. (2007). Depression and socio-economic risk factors: 7-year longitudinal population study. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 190 (4), 293298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sliter, M., Jex, S., Wolford, K., & McInnerney, J. (2010). How rude! Emotional labor as a mediator between customer incivility and employee outcomes. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15 (4), 468481.Google Scholar
Sliter, M. T., & Jones, M. (in press). Developing a model of the antecedents of customer incivility. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.Google Scholar
Smith, P. C., Kendall, L. M., & Hulin, C. (1969). The measurement of satisfaction in work and behavior. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Sprigg, C. A., Stride, C. B., Wall, T. D., Holman, D. J., & Smith, P. R. (2007). Work characteristics, musculoskeletal disorders, and the mediating role of psychological strain: A study of call center employees. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 14561466.Google Scholar
Zapf, D., Vogt, C., Seifert, C., Mertini, H., & Isic, A. (1999). Emotion work as a source of stress: The concept and development of an instrument. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8, 370400.Google Scholar