Quality of life at work in academia: preliminary results for the validation of a tool for Italian university

Abstract

Purpose: Research on quality of working life in academia appears surprisingly rare in many countries, and in some cases nearly absent. Trying to fill this gap, a team formed by W/O psychologists from 16 Italian universities developed a tool for the assessment of psychosocial risks as well as workers health and wellbeing in universities. The validation of this tool (theoretically based on the Job Demands- Resources model) will be presented in this contribution. Design: A pilot study was conducted on a sample of 120 Italian university researchers/teachers, to make a preliminary test of the psychometric properties of the tool. In order to finalize the validation of the tool a second study was planned on a sample of 1500 researchers/teachers. Results: Factorial analysis and reliability check reported satisfying and promising evidence of the robustness of the tool. Limitations: The pilot nature of the study only allowed us to obtain preliminary results, that should be further examined on a wider sample. The second study will help to support these preliminary results with a more robust confirmatory approach. Practical Implications: Results indicated that the proposed tool is reliable and could be used for depicting university researchers/teachers’ health, wellbeing, and working conditions. Moreover, useful insights for implementing organizational interventions could also be obtained. Originality/Value: The tool, proposed by a team of W/O psychologists from 16 Italian universities, aims to offer the academic community with a scientifically reliable diagnostic tool, able to suggest also useful insights for the improvement of working conditions and wellbeing.