This article focuses on teachers’ and principals’ experiences of aggressive emails in home–school collaborations with parents. Semi-structured interviews with 31 teachers and principals from primary, lower and upper secondary schools in Sweden were conducted. Three categories were identified in the material which illuminate the phenomenon of cyberaggression towards principals and teachers from parents: ‘aggressive emails as reactions to principals and teachers’ performances’, ‘aggressive emails as a way of imposing power’ and ‘aggressive emails as a source of anxiety, loss of joy, and decreased focus on core tasks’. The study concludes that cyberaggression in emails from parents is centred around the act of negotiating and that email communication opens up spaces for negotiation to take place. The study also concludes that email cyberaggression tends to be instrumental in character, intended to result in a specific outcome rather than to cause harm. However, cyberaggression influences professional practice and can create a vicious circle of administrative obligation.

The emergence of cyber mistreatment among frontline workers in their digital interactions with customers, clients and patients represents a significant but relatively new work environment risk within the service sector. Human resource management has a key role in digital transformation, which includes securing safe and healthy workplaces and fostering sustainable practices for handling cyber mistreatment. Departing from the context of the educational sector, the aim of this study is to analyse how cyber mistreatment is managed in workplaces and to explore the approaches employed to prevent and mitigate its negative impact. By identifying existing approaches, gaps in sustainable HRM practices can be identified. Qualitative methods were used to explore teachers’ and principals’ experiences of cyber mistreatment and their approaches to handling and preventing such exposure. The empirical data are based on in-depth interviews with 31 informants (16 teachers and 15 principals) using a cross-sectional design. The data were analysed using a qualitative content analysis framework. The study clearly shows that the approaches utilised to address cyber mistreatment are predominantly reactive and individual-centred, with few proactive and organisationally anchored approaches identified. These findings implicate the need for HRM to develop ethical organisational approaches that do not force service workers to resort to individual coping strategies. We suggest sustainable and ethical approaches that target the problems rather than the symptoms, and that work against a normalisation of cyber mistreatment within the service sector.

Covid-19-pandemin ledde till stora samhällsförändringar. Fastän pandemin har påverkat vårt sätt att arbeta avsevärt har få studier undersökt dess effekter på förekomsten av illegitima arbetsuppgifter, alltså sysslor som upplevs som antingen onödiga eller oskäliga. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka förekomsten av illegitima arbetsuppgifter före, under och efter pandemin för legitimerade sjuksköterskor, lärare, byggnadsarbetare och IT-specialister. Vi observerar att lärare rapporterar fler onödiga och oskäliga arbetsuppgifter än övriga yrkesgrupper och en generell minskning av illegitima arbetsuppgifter över tid i alla grupper (med undantaget onödiga arbetsuppgifter hos lärare).

The COVID-19 pandemic led to major societal changes. Although the pandemic has had a significant impact on the way we work, few studies have examined its effects on the prevalence of illegitimate tasks, i.e. tasks that are perceived as either unnecessary or unreasonable. The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence of illegitimate tasks before, during and after the pandemic for nurses, teachers, construction workers and IT specialists. We observe that teachers report more unnecessary and unreasonable tasks than other occupational groups. Also, a general decrease in illegitimate tasks over time in all groups (with the exception of unnecessary tasks in teachers) can be observed. 

This article illustrates how design thinking can structure the development process of a practical toolkit for schools to address cyber mistreatment from pupils, parents, and other parties as a workplace issue. The process included an exploratory phase to identify gaps in schools' understanding and handling, followed by iterative generative and evaluative phases. Based on the Psychosocial Safety Climate framework, necessary organizational capacities were defined. Prototypes of toolkit components, including vignette videos for discussions among staff, a text guide for policy and infrastructure development, and an informative video, were refined through stakeholder feedback. A summative evaluation confirmed the usefulness of these resources for engaging staff and fostering discussions on cyber mistreatment. A themed webpage was created for free access to the toolkit. This study contributes to existing debates on how academic research can impact practice by emphasizing the usefulness of design thinking in creating innovative, user-centered solutions for capacity development.

BACKGROUND: Illegitimate tasks, i.e. working tasks that are perceived as unnecessary or unreasonable, are commonly measured by the Bern Illegitimate Tasks Scale (BITS). Despite a growing research attention paid to illegitimate tasks, the Swedish version of BITS needs yet to be properly evaluated. Moreover, previous multiorganizational studies in this field have taken for granted, without really testing it, that the instrument functions invariantly in different contexts; a prerequisite for meaningful comparisons.

METHODS: Two occupational groups that differs hugely-966 human services workers (teachers and registered nurses) and 750 non-'human service' workers (construction and IT-workers) were targeted utilizing questionnaires data collected 2018 within the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) study. Psychometric properties, i.e., reliability, dimensionality, and measurement invariance between the occupations were examined using confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation models. Also, the associations between the two dimensions of illegitimate tasks and job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion, respectively, were tested.

RESULTS: Good reliability was supported and two- versus one-dimensionality showed better psychometric properties. Partial scalar measurement invariance was satisfactory supported with only 25% relaxed constraints of equal intercepts between groups. Examining the two subdimensions revealed different associations with emotional exhaustion, where the associations was more substantial for unreasonable tasks. Nevertheless, the findings point to potential improvements for future investigation.

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the Swedish version of BITS is working satisfactory and allows for meaningful comparisons of occupational groups. Furthermore, construct validity of the two dimensions was corroborated.

Purpose: With greater numbers of employees using computer-mediated communication, cyberaggression is becoming a more pressing problem for employees and their organizations. However, while a growing body of research illustrates its harmful effects, little is known about the factors that drive its occurrence. The authors therefore sought to identify factors that increase the risk of cyberaggression among employees.

Design/methodology/approach: A random sample of the Swedish working population (N = 11,556) was surveyed via Statistics Sweden (SCB), which produced a final sample of N = 2,847 (response rate = 24.6%).

Findings: Logistic regression analysis showed that emotionally demanding work, availability expectations, low perceived work quality, public sector work and being in a managerial position were related to higher levels of experienced cyberaggression. In addition, exploratory analyses indicated that some of these factors were more strongly related to cyberaggression enacted by organizational insiders compared to organizational outsiders.

Originality/value: Together, the authors' findings suggest that situational factors are stronger antecedents of cyberaggression victimization than personal factors. This has implications for organizations, as practical steps can be taken to reduce cyberaggression among employees.

This study explores the nature of work-related cyber mistreatment from guardians, pupils, and members of the public as experienced by educational workers. Thematic analysis of data collected by semi-structured interviews with 31 teachers and principals resulted in two overarching themes; directly addressed cyber mistreatment in email and unwanted negative exposure on social media. The data spans over different types of cyber mistreatment, ranging from cyber incivility to cyberaggression. Educational workers typically feel powerless when exposed to mistreatment, and require support to manage these complex, novel, and distressing situations.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate university staff relocation from multiple separate buildings to a new building with activity-based flexible offices (AFOs) at a University in Sweden. The aim was to assess staff perceptions of the physical and psychosocial work environment and whether there were any changes in these perceptions before and after the move.

Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods design was used, analyzing closed-ended survey data at two time points (T1, n = 169 and T2, n = 160) and open-ended responses (n = 180) at T2.

Findings: The main findings revealed that employees started working more from home and that there were significant decreases in perceptions of the physical and psychosocial work environment, as well as job satisfaction, after the move to the new premises.

Practical implications: A comprehensive analysis of existing work processes, tasks and collaborations is crucial when planning new university premises. The planning process needs to be done in close collaboration with different stakeholders with multiple perspectives.

Originality/value: Introduction of AFOs in an academic setting can lead to negative consequences for occupational health and efficiency.

BACKGROUND: Workplace violence is a global threat to healthcare professionals' occupational health and safety and the situation has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to explore workplace violence directed against assistant and registered nurses working on surgical wards in Sweden.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2022. Using a convenience sampling procedure, 198 assistant and registered nurses responded to an online questionnaire developed for this specific study. The questionnaire comprised 52 items and included, among other items, subscales from validated and previously used instruments. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and independent-samples t-test.

RESULTS: The most frequently reported type of workplace violence was humiliation (28.8%), followed by physical violence (24.2%), threats (17.7%), and unwanted sexual attention (12.1%). Patients and patients' visitors were reported as the main perpetrators of all kinds of exposure. Additionally, one third of the respondents had experienced humiliation from colleagues. Both threats and humiliation showed negative associations with work motivation and health (p < 0.05). Respondents classified as working in a high- or moderate-risk environment were more frequently exposed to threats (p = 0.025) and humiliation (p = 0.003). Meanwhile, half of the respondents were unaware of any action plans or training regarding workplace violence. However, of those who indicated that they had been exposed to workplace violence, the majority had received quite a lot or a lot of support, mainly from colleagues (range 70.8-80.8%).

CONCLUSION: Despite a high prevalence of workplace violence, and especially of humiliating acts, there appeared to be low preparedness within the hospital organizations to prevent and/or handle such incidents. To improve these conditions, hospital organizations should place more emphasis on preventive measures as part of their systematic work environment management. To help inform such initiatives, it is suggested that future research should focus on the identification of suitable measures regarding different types of incidents, perpetrators, and settings.

OBJECTIVES: Dental caries is a health problem that can be prevented. The aim of this study is to analyse if the quality of leadership, in Swedish Public Dental Health clinics, influences the extent to which patients with caries receive preventive care, and if any such effect is mediated through a collaborative work climate, clear role expectations and a low average level of burnout among staff.

METHODS: The multilevel cross-sectional design includes work environment data from surveys of 75 general public dental clinics, register-based data on preventive measures provided to 5398 patients who received a dental filling due to a caries diagnosis, and patient demographics. Using a multilevel path analysis with logistic regression, we tested a model with one direct and three indirect pathways, controlling for the potential confounding effect of patient demographic factors.

RESULTS: Leadership quality, as assessed by the staff at the clinic, was associated with increased odds of patients with caries receiving prevention, controlling for patient demographic factors. Leadership quality was also positively related to a collaborative work climate, clear role expectations and a low average level of burnout among staff. Against expectations, however, no indirect effect from leadership quality on prevention through the other work environment factors was found.

CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the quality of leadership in Swedish Public Dental Health clinics was positively related to a good work environment for staff and to delivery of preventive care to patients experiencing caries.