The purpose of this study was to clarify the process by which managers of organizations acquire supportive leadership over their subordinates. Semi-structured interviews of 11 managers from companies and government administrative offices were conducted, and as a result of analyzing the verbatim records of the interviews using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach (a qualitative data analysis method), 40 concepts were generated, which were organized into five categories and 16 sub-categories. In the first category, “initial experiences,” the interviewees gained experience acting as leaders at home, school, and so forth, and challenged adults, for instance, through acts of rebellion against teachers. In the second category, “initial experiences as adults,” the interviewees worked diligently with the support of their bosses and learned how to do their jobs in their own ways. In the third category, “initial experiences as managers,” while the interviewees pursued their ideals as managers using input from their bosses, they experienced failure. However, thanks to inputs from others around them, they made fresh achievements and acquired the mind-set of managers; by gaining successful experiences, they transitioned to the fourth category, “approaching maturity as managers.” They gained confidence in their work as managers by looking back and reflecting on their careers, and thus arrived at the fifth category, “acquiring supportive leadership.” It was apparent that they went through a process of gaining comprehensive confidence, exceeding the bounds of work, as they began to exert supportive leadership over their subordinates. These results suggest that feedback from others, an attitude of taking on adversity, and looking back and reflecting on the past are significant factors in the acquisition of supportive leadership skills.

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We conducted a study on a scale to measure the emotions of young unemployed people who intended to change occupation, during their unemployment. We conducted a web-based survey of 406 young people who had experience in changing occupations. The results showed that there were three factors that were titled as “affirmation of aspiration,” “anxiety and regret,” and “anger and dissatisfaction.” Furthermore, a path analysis showed that negative reasons for leaving and changing occupation led to feelings of “anxiety and regret” or “anger and dissatisfaction” during unemployment, and that positive reasons for leaving and changing occupation led to feelings of “affirmation of aspiration” during unemployment.

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The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship among work-family conflict (WFC) /facilitation (WFF) , job demands, job resources, psychological stress response, and work engagement from the view of the Job Demands-Resources model. Data was collected using a mailing method of 240 employees working in 10 different social welfare facilities. Results showed that job demands, specifically emotional burden, enhanced WFC, which in turn led to high psychological stress response. Job resources, specifically support from family and friends, impacted WFF, which in turn led to high work engagement. In addition, Family to work conflict (Fwc) moderated the relationship between work to family facilitation (Wff) and work engagement. We discussed that welfare facilities should try to reduce WFC and improve WFF, such as family-friendly workplace policies, to promote the mental health of care staff.

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This study investigated that the effects of self- growth and social support at the workplace on work engagement by focusing on the mediating effects of self-growth. A survey was conducted with 254 Japanese employees. According to results of previous studies, the self -growth was expected to mediate the relationship between social support at the workplace and work engagement, in turn, work engagement was expected to be associated positively with performance and negatively with strain. Furthermore, it was anticipated that self-growth would meditate the relationship between social support at work place and strain. In this study, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicated that through the self-growth, social support at the workplace was positively associated with work engagement and negatively associated with strain. Moreover, work engagement was positively associated with performance, whereas it was not associated with strain. These results suggest the importance of enhancing self-growth through the social support at the workplace to work actively with improved performance.

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This research clarifies how middle-aged and elderly employees are conscious of their future work identity. An example of an enterprise that can continue work even after retirement. Study 1 was an interview survey of seven middle-aged employees. The study results showed that middle-aged employees thought about their future from the way they worked, and found that they would seek different avenues to work as older employees while being psychologically prepared. Study 2 was an interview survey of six elderly employees, which showed that elderly employees practiced the way they worked at elderly employees and at the same time explored ways of working as their own elderly employees it became clear that it was. Study 3 was a group discussion with 24 elderly employees. They spoke about how it is to work as an elderly employee. Conflicts and anxiety were common during transition from middle age to elderly and company’s support was indispensable. The study results suggested that a work identity in an enterprise is psychological continuity from the middle-aged employees to the older employees and it is important to have a time perspective at each age.

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