(Press-News.org) MANHATTAN, KANSAS -- It may be beneficial for employers to not only encourage office Christmas parties but also celebrate holidays and festivals from a variety of religions, according to a Kansas State University researcher.
Sooyeol Kim, doctoral student in psychological sciences, was involved in a collaborative study that found that employees who openly discuss their religious beliefs at work are often happier and have higher job satisfaction than those employees who do not.
"For many people, religion is the core of their lives," Kim said. "Being able to express important aspects of one's life can influence work-related issues, such as job satisfaction, work performance or engagement. It can be beneficial for organizations to have a climate that is welcoming to every religion and culture."
Kim said employers might even want to consider a religion-friendly policy or find ways to encourage religious expression. For example, organizations could have an office Christmas party, but also could celebrate and recognize other religious holidays and dates, such as Hanukkah, Ramadan or Buddhist holidays.
Kim has studied organizational psychology and is a co-author on a Journal of Organizational Behavior article, "Applying models of employee identity management across cultures: Christianity in the USA and South Korea."
Other co-authors on the study include Brent Lyons, assistant professor of management and organization studies at Simon Fraser University; Jennifer Wessel, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Maryland; Sonia Ghumman, assistant professor of management at the University of Hawaii, Manoa; and Ann Marie Ryan, professor of psychology at Michigan State University.
For the cross-cultural study, the researchers surveyed nearly 600 working adults from a variety of industries -- including education and finance -- in the U.S. and South Korea. The surveyed employees were all Christian, but identified with a variety of denominations, including Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist, among others.
The researchers asked participants how important religion was to them and how it helped to shape their identity.
Results showed that employees who valued religion as a core part of their lives were more likely to disclose their religion in the workplace. Employees who felt pressure to assimilate in the workplace were less likely to disclose their religious identity, Kim said.
But most significantly, the researchers found that the employees who disclosed their religion in the workplace had several positive outcomes, including higher job satisfaction and higher perceived well-being.
"Disclosing your religion can be beneficial for employees and individual well-being," Kim said. "When you try to hide your identity, you have to pretend or you have to lie to others, which can be stressful and negatively impact how you build relationships with co-workers."
Kim said there are several ways employees can share their religion in the workplace. Employees might decorate their desk with a religious object, such as a cross or a calendar. They also may share stories or information about their religious beliefs during conversation, such as describing a church-related event.
The researchers found no major differences between the U.S. and Korean samples. They also found no major differences between industries, but Kim said that an organization's culture also might play a role in determining if employees disclose their religion.
Kim said the research on religion in the workplace plays a part into work-life balance. Research continues to show that individual characteristics -- such as family and religion -- can influence work-related issues.
"People can bring nonworking issues into the workplace or they may bring a work issue into their nonworking domain," Kim said. "Now days that boundary is blurred and there are less clear distinctions between work and personal life."
INFORMATION:
SAN FRANCISCO--A new study is helping to answer a longstanding question that has recently moved to the forefront of earth science: Did our planet make its own water through geologic processes, or did water come to us via icy comets from the far reaches of the solar system?
The answer is likely "both," according to researchers at The Ohio State University-- and the same amount of water that currently fills the Pacific Ocean could be buried deep inside the planet right now.
At the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 17, they report the discovery ...
SAN FRANCISCO--Of the many weather-related factors that contribute to harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Lake Erie, a new study has identified one as most important: the wind.
Over a 10-year period in Lake Erie, wind speed contributed more consistently to HABs than sunshine or even precipitation, researchers at The Ohio State University and their colleagues found.
The ongoing study is unusual, in that researchers are building the first detailed analyses of how the various environmental factors influence each other--in the context of satellite studies of Lake Erie.
They ...
Singapore, Date - A more effective treatment for tuberculosis (TB) could soon be available as scientists have discovered that Metformin (MET), a drug for treating diabetes, can also be used to boost the efficacy of TB medication without inducing drug resistance.
This discovery was made by a team of international scientists led by the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), a research institute under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
TB is an air-borne infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which ...
The extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago is thought to have paved the way for mammals to dominate, but a new study shows that many mammals died off alongside the dinosaurs.
Metatherian mammals--the extinct relatives of living marsupials ("mammals with pouches", such as opossums) thrived in the shadow of the dinosaurs during the Cretaceous period. The new study, by an international team of experts on mammal evolution and mass extinctions, shows that these once-abundant mammals nearly followed the dinosaurs into oblivion.
When a 10-km-wide asteroid struck ...
The Center for RNA Research at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has succeeded in revealing, for the first time, the mechanism of how miRNAs, which control gene expression, are regulated in the early embryonic stage.
The IBS researchers have verified that maternally inherited miRNAs are highly adenylated at their ends in mature oocytes and early embryos. This maternal miRNA adenylation is extensively conserved in fly, sea urchin and mouse. The researchers have also identified that the enzyme called 'Wispy' is required to catalyze miRNA adenylation and to reduce miRNA ...
A team of Belgian researchers constructed a focus stacking set-up made of consumer grade products with better end results than high-end solutions and this at only a tenth of the prize of current existing systems. Because of the operational ease, speed and the low cost of the system, it is ideal for mass digitization programs involving type specimens. The study was published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
Enthusiasts or scientists, many struggle to take high quality pictures of the tiny animals of the micro world. When they eventually succeed in their effort, it is ...
PITTSBURGH--Instead of an apple, could a hug-a-day keep the doctor away? According to new research from Carnegie Mellon University, that may not be that far-fetched of an idea.
Led by Sheldon Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty University Professor of Psychology in CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the researchers tested whether hugs act as a form of social support, protecting stressed people from getting sick. Published in Psychological Science, they found that greater social support and more frequent hugs protected people from the increased susceptibility ...
This news release is available in German. Most Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) patients carry a mutation that produces a defective form of the protein lamin A. This defective protein is referred to as progerin. Normal lamin A is a key component of the matrix surrounding the DNA in the cell nucleus and plays a role in gene expression. By contrast, the defective form, progerin, is not functional but is nevertheless continuously synthesized. The result is that progerin accumulates in the nucleus and causes the cell to "age". Consequently, HGPS patients develop ...
Platform ecosystems are a key focus of the research carried out in the Information Systems & E-Services Group headed by Professor Alexander Benlian in the Law and Economics Department at TU Darmstadt. Ferdinand Thies and Michael Wessel decided to dedicate themselves just over a year ago primarily to the study of crowdfunding - the collective financing of social, creative or commercial projects by a community of internet users. Crowdfunding campaigns generated around five million dollars of investment in 2013 and the market is set to grow further. These types of campaign ...
Four of six major archaeological sites in Syria have been heavily looted and damaged, according to a AAAS analysis of high-resolution satellite images that documents the extent of the destruction.
The report analyzes six of the 12 sites that Syria has nominated as World Heritage Sites: Dura Europos, Ebla, Hama's Waterwheels, Mari, Raqqa, and Ugarit. A forthcoming report will analyze the additional six sites.
"As we continue to study the conditions at Syria's important cultural sites, we have observed significant destruction that is largely the result of conflict. However, ...
