Purpose: Job insecurity characterizes academic work, with potential risks for the health, well-being, and personal lives of faculty. Notwithstanding, faculty with job insecurity experiences may still find academia conducive to pursuing personal fulfilment. As faculty experiences of psychological well-being may be coloured by insecurity, this study sought to qualitatively investigate the ways in which experiences of insecurity and psychological well-being co-occur.

Methods: This study followed a questionnaire study of a representative sample of faculty in Swedish academia and their job insecurity perceptions, inviting the most insecure to participate. The participant group included 19 faculty from nine public Swedish higher education institutions. Transcripts of the semi-structured interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, guided by the six theoretical dimensions of psychological well-being.

Results: Two themes were developed: 1) Staying afloat?, and 2) I’m not yet where I’m supposed to be. These themes elucidate faculty experiences of managing their current work (and personal) situations, and reveal how faculty orient themselves in relation to their futures, pasts and presents.

Conclusions: The findings demonstrate how experiences of insecurity co-exist with psychological well-being in constraining and enhancing faculty well-being. This reveals how psychological well-being involves a dynamic process of negotiation, especially during transitional periods.

Research suggests that the work domain is important for facilitating individual well-being as people tend to spend a significant amount of time at work. Among faculty in academia, the work domain may be essential to consider given the increasing concerns about faculty mental health related to increasing workloads and responsibilities. Therefore, it is pertinent to investigate various personal and work-related factors in association with well-being and ill-being. Not only are such investigations important for understanding faculty fulfillment, they may also provide key insights needed to ensure quality in teaching and research in higher education. This study utilized questionnaire data, collected in 2021, from a representative sample of faculty with doctoral degrees across Swedish academia (n = 2661, 47 percent women, average age = 50). Personal and work-related variables included age, sex, civil status, children, employment contract, managerial responsibilities, and organizational tenure. These were modeled as predictors of well-being, including hedonic and eudaimonic measures, in addition to ill-being measures, specifically exhaustion and depressive symptoms. Four multiple hierarchical regressions revealed significant relationships between personal and work-related factors and measures of well-being and ill-being. Age and civil status were associated with well-being and ill-being, and among work-related factors, a permanent contract was associated with lower exhaustion and depressive symptoms, whereas possessing managerial responsibilities was linked to higher hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Overall, the study findings reveal that personal and work-related factors may differentially influence faculty well-being and ill-being. These insights have the potential to inform organizational efforts to enhance faculty well-being.

Research suggests that the current employment and working conditions in academia have implications for the health, well-being, and personal lives of faculty. Not only is this of concern regarding individual faculty and their lives, but there may be implications for quality in education and research, and society’s capacity to meet global challenges may be at stake. Empirical findings from international studies detail the insecurities and uncertainties associated with working in academia, which may explain various health-related consequences, yet the situation in Sweden remains largely understudied. Given that labor market institutions may shape employment and working conditions, context-specific investigations are needed to provide insight into the individual experiences of faculty in Sweden. This thesis seeks to address this knowledge gap by investigating uncertainties associated with working in Swedish academia, namely employment contract type and job insecurity, the psychosocial work environment, and any implications for faculty health, well-being and work-family interference. Three different methodological approaches are employed to provide a comprehensive understanding of faculty experiences in Sweden.

Study I investigated permanent and fixed-term faculty experiences of the psychosocial work environment, specifically effort and reward, in relation to burnout, self-rated health, and work-family conflict (n = 2335). By means of a variable-oriented approach, consistent main effects were found across both contract groups: effort was associated with all three health-related outcomes, and reward was associated with burnout and self-rated health. Interaction effects were only found for permanent faculty. Overall, permanent and fixed-term faculty seem to appraise the psychosocial work environment in both similar and dissimilar ways, with health-related implications for faculty.

Study II employed a person-oriented approach to explore faculty experiences of job insecurity (n = 2729). Profiles of job insecurity, consisting of quantitative and qualitative dimensions were identified and investigated in relation to health-related indicators including exhaustion, depressive symptoms, well-being, and work-family conflict. Five unique profiles of job insecurity were identified characterized by varying concurrent levels of quantitative and qualitative job insecurity. Increasingly insecure profiles coincided with poorer scores on all health-related indicators and the demographic compositions within profiles revealed that those most insecure held both permanent and fixed-term contracts. While the majority of faculty reported low levels of job insecurity, some faculty, belonging to the most insecure profile, may be at risk regarding their health and well-being.

Study III explored individual faculty’s experiences of insecurity and eudaimonia, specifically psychological well-being, through qualitative interviews with 19 faculty. Through reflexive thematic analysis, two themes were developed: Staying afloat?, consisting of four subthemes, and I’m not yet where I’m supposed to be, consisting of three subthemes. Together the themes reveal how faculty navigate various tensions, related to the different dimensions of psychological well-being, in their experiences and pursuits of fulfillment. Experiences of insecurity do not preclude psychological well-being, rather, they seem to shape parallel manifestations of eudaimonia. 

The three empirical studies reveal that uncertainties associated with working in Swedish academia are related to faculty health, well-being, and their personal lives. Specifically, uncertainty in terms of employment contracts and job insecurity suggests that faculty without a “real” permanent employment are most vulnerable with regards to their health, well-being and experiences of work-family interference. Despite this, faculty with experiences of uncertainty still experience and pursue psychological well-being in various ways. These findings have implications for issues pertaining to sustainable work in Swedish academia.

Forskning tyder på att anställnings- och arbetsvillkoren inom högskolan har implikationer för lärares och forskares hälsa, välbefinnande och privatliv. Det är inte enbart en fråga som rör enskilda lärare/forskare och deras liv, utan det kan även ha konsekvenser för kvalitet i högre utbildning och forskning och i förlängningen kan samhällets förmåga att möta globala utmaningar stå på spel. Internationella studier lyfter fram den otrygghet och osäkerhet som är kopplad till arbete inom högskolesektorn, vilket kan förklara olika hälsorelaterade konsekvenser. Dock är situationen i Sverige fortfarande i stort sett outforskad. Eftersom arbetslivets aktörer har en avgörande roll i utformning av anställnings- och arbetsvillkor behövs kontextuellt förankrade studier för att klargöra individuella erfarenheter bland lärare/forskare i Sverige. Den här avhandlingen syftar till att fylla denna kunskapslucka genom att undersöka osäkerheter relaterade till arbete inom svensk högskolesektor, i form av anställningsformer och anställningsotrygghet, psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer och eventuella implikationer för hälsa, välbefinnande och konflikt mellan arbete och familj bland lärare och forskare. För att få en övergripande förståelse används tre olika metodansatser.

I Studie I undersöktes tillsvidare- och visstidsanställdas upplevelser av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön, mätt i form av ansträngning och belöning, i relation till utbrändhet, självskattad hälsa samt konflikt mellan arbete och familj (n = 2335). Genom en variabel-orienterad ansats identifierades huvudeffekter i båda grupperna: ansträngning var genomgående förenad med alla tre hälsorelaterade indikatorer, medan belöning var förenad med utbrändhet och självskattad hälsa. Interaktionseffekter framkom endast för tillsvidareanställda. Sammantaget verkar både tillsvidare- och visstidsanställda uppleva den psykosociala arbetsmiljön på både liknande och olika sätt, vilket har hälsorelaterade implikationer.

Studie II använde en person-orienterad ansats för att undersöka upplevelser av anställningsotrygghet (n = 2729). Profiler av anställningsotrygghet, inkluderande kvantitativa och kvalitativa dimensioner, identifierades och undersöktes i relation till hälsorelaterade indikatorer, såsom utmattning, depressiva symtom, välbefinnande och konflikt mellan arbete och familj. Fem unika profiler identifierades. Dessa kännetecknades av varierande samtidiga nivåer av kvantitativ och kvalitativ anställningsotrygghet. Mer otrygga profiler var förenade med sämre skattningar i alla hälsorelaterade indikatorer. Den demografiska sammansättningen i profilerna visade att de mest otrygga hade såväl tillsvidare- som visstidsanställningar. Även om majoriteten rapporterade låga nivåer av anställningsotrygghet framstår de som tillhör den mest otrygga profilen som mest sårbara och i riskzonen när det gäller hälsa och välbefinnande.

I Studie III undersöktes enskilda individers upplevelser av osäkerhet och välbefinnande, i form av psykologiskt välbefinnande, genom kvalitativa intervjuer med 19 personer. Genom reflexiv tematisk analys identifierades två teman: Hålla sig flytande?, som består av fyra underteman, och Jag är ännu inte där jag borde vara, som består av tre underteman. Tillsammans visar dessa teman hur individer navigerar mellan olika spänningsfält, med koppling till olika aspekter av psykologiskt välbefinnande, i sina upplevelser och i sin strävan efter förverkligande. Upplevelser av osäkerhet utesluter inte psykologiskt välbefinnande, utan verkar snarare forma parallella uttryck av ett övergripande välbefinnande.  

Sammantaget visar de tre empiriska studierna att den osäkerhet som arbete inom den svenska högskolesektorn för med sig har koppling till hälsa, välbefinnande och privatliv. Osäkerhet i form av anställningsform och anställningsotrygghet tyder på att lärare och forskare utan en ”riktig” fast anställning är sårbara när det gäller hälsa, välbefinnande och upplevelser av konflikt mellan arbete och familj. Trots erfarenheter av osäkerhet finns fortfarande upplevelser och strävan efter välbefinnande. Dessa forskningsresultat har implikationer för frågor som rör hållbarhet i svensk högskolesektor.

Background: Job insecurity increasingly characterizes academic work. Faculty who experience insecurity may be at risk for impaired health and well-being, but what might insecurity mean for experiences and expressions of positive psychological functioning, namely psychological well- being? Because psychological well-being is important for mental health, it is relevant to explore insecure faculty’s expressions of positive psychological functioning (or a lack thereof). Thus, this study seeks to understand: How are experiences of insecurity and psychological well-being expressed by faculty in Swedish academia?

Method: This study is a qualitative follow-up to a questionnaire study, which revealed that some faculty in Swedish academia experience high insecurity. The participant group consisted of some 20 insecure faculty from public Swedish HEIs. The interviews were semi-structured and were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, deductively, including the six theoretical dimensions of psychological well-being.

Results: Preliminary findings suggest that some experiences and expressions of insecurity and psychological well-being span across professional and personal domains, while other experiences and expressions are restricted: by the rules and conventions of the academic system in Sweden, but also by individual facultys’ personal circumstances.

Discussion: This study reveals how experiences of insecurity within academia can sometimes be experienced as barriers to one’s ability to strive to reach one’s full potential. Simultaneously, psychological well-being is also facilitated through academic work. A nuanced understanding of the ways insecurity in academia is experienced in relation to psychological well-being is important for understanding faculty motivation, and the complex interplay between academic work and positive psychological functioning.

Background: Sickness presenteeism, or presenteeism, refers to working while ill, instead of being on sick leave. Presenteeism is associated with adverse health including poor self-rated health, depression, and future health adversity. Moreover, factors of the psychosocial work environment, including demands, have be related to presenteeism. Work in higher education is increasingly characterized by high demands such as job insecurity. This may lead faculty to work longer and harder, in efforts to keep the job. This may, in turn, be associated with greater presenteeism. Conversely, resources, including autonomy are related to employee health. Work in higher education is often characterized by high autonomy. This may, in turn, be associated with lower presenteeism. Job insecurity and autonomy may have direct relationships to presenteeism. However, the relationships between demands and resources and health behaviours such as presenteeism may be mediated through a process of health impairment, namely burnout. This study aimed to investigate if and how job insecurity (a demand) and autonomy (a resource) are associated with sickness presenteeism, and whether burnout mediated the relationship, among faculty in Swedish academia. Specifically, four hypotheses were tested: 1) job insecurity is positively associated with presenteeism, 2) autonomy is negatively associated with presenteeism, 3) the relationship between job insecurity and presenteeism is mediated by burnout: job insecurity has a positive relationship with burnout, and burnout has a positive relationship with presenteeism, and 4) the relationship between autonomy and presenteeism is mediated by burnout: autonomy has a negative relationship with burnout, and burnout has a positive association with presenteeism.

Method: Self-reports of quantitative job insecurity, autonomy, burnout, and presenteeism were collected via online questionnaires. The analytic sample included 1899 individuals (55% women; mean age: 48 years), with a doctoral degree, working in Swedish higher education institutions. Structural equation modelling was performed to test the hypotheses. Direct and indirect effects were tested separately in two models.

Results: The first direct effects model showed that increasing job insecurity was associated with increasing presenteeism, thus confirming hypothesis 1. Moreover, increasing autonomy was associated with decreasing presenteeism which confirmed hypothesis 2. The second model, testing burnout as a mediator, provided support for hypothesis 3, showing that job insecurity had a positive, indirect effect on presenteeism via burnout. Finally, burnout was found to mediate the relationship between autonomy and presenteeism so that autonomy had a negative effect on presenteeism via burnout, which confirmed hypothesis 4. Overall, the indirect model fit the data better and explained 24 percent of the variance in burnout and 6 percent of the variance in presenteeism.

Conclusion: This cross-sectional study suggests that faculty in Swedish academia facing job insecurity may experience increasing burnout and increasing presenteeism. Importantly, however, autonomy seems a beneficial resource. This is important given any future implications for the work ability of faculty who work when ill.

Background: In recent years, higher education has become increasingly characterized by issues concerning insecure employment arrangements and working conditions. Among those who report high job insecurity in Swedish academia, little is known regarding the individual’s experience of their work situation and of insecurity. The current study strives to address this knowledge gap by investigating how insecurity and concerns about one’s work situation and working conditions are experienced by faculty in Swedish academia. Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following research question: How can insecurity and concerns regarding one’s work situation and conditions be understood based on individuals’ experiences of their work and employment situation in Swedish academia?

Method: This study forms part of a research project and includes a qualitative follow-up to a questionnaire study which revealed that some faculty in Swedish academia belong to profiles of high job insecurity. To identify the current participant group, faculty belonging to these high insecurity profiles who had previously indicated a willingness to participate in an interview study were contacted and screened for eligibility. Individuals were considered eligible if they still worked in Swedish academia and reported moderate to high job insecurity. The participant group consisted of 11 faculty (five women, six men) from five public Swedish higher education institutions. Interviews were semi-structured and conducted digitally. Subsequently, the interviews were transcribed verbatim and de-identified to protect participant integrity. The material was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results: Two overall themes were identified. The first theme, ‘Where is the grass greener?’ describes the ambiguity as to where, in academia, the best place to be is: where faculty are able to do the work they desire; where in the work situation insecurity exists; and what insecurity actually means in the academic context. The second theme, ‘Doing research in headwinds’ explains how faculty who have a great passion for, interest in, and motivation to do research, face obstacles and challenges, which often impede possibilities to make time for, and actually conduct, quality research. Not only do the demands of the job affect the work itself, but there are also consequences for the well-being and private lives of faculty. The risk is an existence of constant worry for the changing content of one’s work, with various related consequences.

Conclusion: This study reveals how the experience of insecurity among faculty in Swedish academia is a result of a number of intermingling factors characterizing academic work. These include the desired percentage of one’s position dedicated to research and teaching, and beliefs about future successes with grant applications, for instance. Among those who wish to focus predominantly on research, concerns arise about research quality and whether one is able to spend the desired amount of time on research. Importantly, these factors evoke the qualitative aspects of job insecurity. To address these issues, Swedish higher education institutions should strive to ensure that faculty are entitled to and can make use of research time, funded by the institution. This would contribute to both quality and continuity of research and higher education.

Insecure work has become increasingly frequent in recent decades. It includes insecure employment contracts (contractual arrangements that deviate from permanent, open-ended contracts) as well as perceived job insecurity (an individual perception that one’s job is at risk). While research on insecure work (contractual and perceived) has identified numerous work-related and health-related outcomes, a limited number of studies have investigated if union membership may be a protective factor. The unionization rate among workers with insecure employment contracts is relatively low, despite these contractual arrangements often being characterized by poor working conditions. This chapter reviews previous research to address the following questions: (1) How do insecure workers view union membership and what are their unionization behaviours (joining and leaving)? (2) Can union membership and support buffer the negative effects of insecure work on work-related and health-related outcomes? (3) How can unions represent the interests of insecure workers?

Research goals and why the work was worth doing: The goal of this study was to contribute to current knowledge of employment and working conditions in academia. As work in academia is increasingly described as stressful, academic faculty may be at risk for adverse health-related outcomes, which in turn may jeopardize the quality of education and research conducted at higher education institutions. Considering the crucial role that teachers and researchers in higher education play in society, it is important to strive to identify ways in which to improve their working conditions. In this study, we examine if and how faculty perceptions of the psychosocial work environment are associated with different health-related outcomes, and explore how these relationships play out for permanent and fixed-term faculty.

Theoretical background: Employment conditions and psychosocial factors have been associated with various health-related outcomes in different occupational groups, but few studies focus on the conditions in academia, particularly Swedish academia. Previous research suggests that the psychosocial work environment may contribute to impaired health and interference between work and family among faculty. Furthermore, temporary employment contracts are commonplace in academia, and may influence employee perceptions of the psychosocial work environment. Moreover, research from other sectors regarding the role of contract type may not generalize to academia. Thus, this study aimed to: 1) investigate the effects of effort, reward, and their interaction to explain burnout, self-rated health, and work-family conflict among faculty in Sweden, and 2) empirically contribute to the research on psychosocial working conditions, contract type, and associated health-related outcomes, including work-family conflict, in academia.

Design/Methodology/Approach/Intervention: Questionnaire data, collected online in 2016, came from 2335 faculty with a doctoral degree, working at higher education institutions in Sweden. The average respondent was 48 years of age, 57 percent were women and 78 percent held permanent contracts. Measures of the psychosocial work environment included effort and reward. Burnout, self-rated health, and work-family conflict constituted the health-related outcomes. Using structural equation modeling, multi-group analysis combined with latent moderation analyses was conducted.

Results obtained: Main effects of effort were found for all health-related outcomes revealing that effort was associated with higher burnout, poorer self-rated health, and greater work-family conflict. Main effects of reward were found for burnout and self-rated health in both contract groups revealing that reward reduced burnout and improved self-rated health. Reward was not significantly associated with work-family conflict. The interaction between effort and reward was significantly associated with all outcomes among permanent contract employees, but was non-significant among those with fixed-term contracts.

Limitations: Future research would benefit from longitudinal studies where both permanent and fixed-term faculty perceptions of the work environment in relation to outcomes of health and well-being could be compared over time.

Conclusions – research and or practical implications/Originality/Value: The results suggest that effort and reward may explain health-related outcomes among academic faculty, with the exception of work-family conflict. Reward does not seem to have beneficial effects for work-family conflict. Furthermore, the results indicate that reward may moderate the relationship between effort and outcomes among permanent faculty, while this may not be the case among fixed-term faculty. Perhaps this is because fixed-term faculty expect an imbalance between effort and reward for some duration of time, in anticipation of eventually securing a permanent contract. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of psychosocial work environment factors to understand health-related consequences for permanent and fixed-term faculty in Swedish academia.

Relevance to the Congress Theme: The conditions in academia continue to change as the characteristics of the job and faculty responsibilities evolve. Moreover, the research and knowledge-production which characterizes academia is constantly reevaluated and updated, reflecting a context which is constantly changing. New research findings must be integrated with prior knowledge, and passed along to the next generation of students. 

Employment conditions and psychosocial factors have been linked to various health-related outcomes in different occupational groups, but few studies focus on the conditions in academia. This study explores the effects of effort, reward, and their interaction to explain health-related outcomes, namely burnout, self-rated health, and work-family conflict among academic faculty in Sweden. We also explore these effects among those with permanent and fixed-term employment contracts. Questionnaire data, collected online in 2016, came from 2335 employees (57% women) with a doctoral degree, working at a Swedish higher education institution. Latent moderation analysis combined with multi-group analysis was conducted. Main effects of effort were found for all health-related outcomes revealing that effort was associated with higher burnout, poorer self-rated health, and greater work-family conflict. Reward was negatively associated with burnout and self-rated health revealing that reward reduced burnout and improved self-rated health. The interaction between effort and reward was significantly associated with all outcomes among permanent contract employees, but was non-significant among those with fixed-term contracts. This may suggest that fixed-term faculty are less affected by the presence or lack of reward. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of the psychosocial work environment to understand health-related consequences for permanent and fixed-term faculty with a doctoral degree.

Background: Previous studies of social workers suggest that psychosocial working conditions and social position may interfere with both short-term and long-term recovery. But it is unclear whether this holds for individuals who work in higher education, a particularly knowledge-intensive sector of the labor market.

Purpose: This study investigates how employment (contract type) and psychosocial working conditions (effort and reward) relate to different aspects of recovery among women and men. Specifically, three aspects of recovery were included: recovery 1) in the morning, 2) after a weekend, and 3) after a longer holiday.

Method: Self-reports in questionnaires were collected in 2016 (n: 920 women/717 men) and 2021 (n: 1290 women/1416 men) from two different study cohorts in Swedish academia.

Results: There were no significant relationships between contract and recovery. Higher effort was consistently associated with all aspects of recovery among both women men in the two study cohorts. Higher reward was associated with better recovery across cohorts, for both women and men. However, findings for reward were less consistent in 2016 (women: promotion; men: esteem).

Conclusions: Among the highly educated, contract type has no important role, which may relate to most individuals having a permanent employment contract. Psychosocial working conditions were associated with all aspects of recovery, with associations seeming more consistent in 2021, which may relate to the better representativity of this cohort. Overall, the findings underscore the importance of providing sustainable psychosocial working conditions that allow recovery opportunities for both women and men working in higher education.