Research On The Formation Mechanism,After-effects And Coping Strategies Of Non-decent Workers’ Ambivalent Occupational Identification

With the increasing division of labor in society,various occupations have emerged.Some occupations are bright and glamorous,but some require the workers to work in a dirty or even dangerous environment.Indeed,occupation is a product of social division of labor,and all occupations that are beneficial to human society should be free of any distinction between high and low status.However,in the long-term social practice,some occupations have been “stigmatized” by society because of their dirty attributes,and have been marginalized in the labor market.For non-decent works,Chinese people used to combine it with personal “face”,because the ability to do a decent work is about the face of practitioners and their family.Non-decent work(also known as “dirty” work)refers to tasks or occupations that are necessary for the normal functioning of society,but are devalued or disliked by the public.For example,hospital caregivers who provide patient care services,morticians who defend the last dignity of life,and sanitation workers who play the role of city beauticians.Despite the social value of these occupations,their “tainted image” in the eyes of the public exposes them to serious identity threats,which not only affects their physical and mental health,but also leads to organizational inefficiencies.Therefore,it is of great academic and practical importance to explore the identity of non-decent workers,and to help and guide them to build a dignified occupational identity,so as to enhance their physical and mental well-being and work performance.Occupation is an important source of positive self-concept and existence value for individuals,and non-decent workers often face a demeaning question from mainstream social values,namely,“how can you do it?”.The impact of non-decent work on practitioners’ identity has been a key issue of academic concern,yet there is a long-standing controversy between occupational identity and occupational disidentification of non-decent work practitioners.Based on the perspective of ambivalence,some studies suggest that the identifying process of non-decent workers is more complicated,and it is difficult to be at both ends of the conscious choice of identification or disidentification,and they will be somewhat ambivalent about their work role.However,most of the previous studies on the ambivalent occupational identification of non-decent workers are in the stage of theoretical exploration,have stopped at the stage of theoretical discussion,and the formation mechanism,after-effects and intervention strategies of the ambivalent occupational identification of practitioners are still unclear.Given the prevalence of ambivalent occupational identification among non-decent workers and the limitations of the existing literature in interpreting related issues.In this study,hospital caregivers were taken as the research object,and ambivalent occupational identification was taken as the research perspective.The core question was mainly discussed: How does non-decent workers’ ambivalent occupational identification identity form,what is its impact,and how to intervene? The answers to the above questions are of great significance.Theoretically,it can deepen the understanding of the identity status of non-decent workers and help resolve the differences in existing studies.Practically,it can help and guide practitioners to construct a dignified occupational identity and provide insights for organizations to improve the management of the bottom working group.Specifically,this study covers three main parts.First,the formation mechanism of ambivalent occupational identification of non-decent workers,combining social identity theory and ambivalent perspective,focusing on the mediating mechanism of experienced conflict,and the moderating role of family motivation and job opportunity.Second,the influencing effects of non-decent workers’ ambivalent occupational identification,based on ambivalence-amplification theory,focuses on the dual mediating mechanism of occupational identification and occupational disidentification,and the moderating effects of respect gained and occupational discrimination.Third,the intervention strategies of non-decent workers’ ambivalent occupational identification,based on the transactional model of stress and coping strategies,focuses on the influencing mechanism of multiple supporting resources on relationship between perceived non-decent work and ambivalent occupational identification,especially the mediating roles of active and avoidance stigma coping strategies.This study combines the existing literature and theory to make logical reasoning and put forward the research hypothesis.This study then adopts three-stage longitudinal research design.We surveyed 8 large hospitals in South,Central,and North China,a total of530 valid questionnaires were finally obtained.Research methods like reliability analysis,confirmatory factor analysis,correlation analysis,regression analysis,and Monte Carlo simulation were used to test the hypothesis of the theoretical models.These methods are implemented by statistical software including SPSS23.0 and Mplus8.3.The main research conclusions are as follows:(1)The interaction between perceived non-decent work and family motivation or job opportunity had a significant positive impact on experienced conflict,and experienced conflict then positively affects ambivalent occupational identification.Experienced conflict mediates relationship between the interaction between perceived non-decent work and family motivation or job opportunity and ambivalent occupational identification.(2)The interaction between ambivalent occupational identification and respect gained has a significant positive impact on occupational identification,and occupational identification then positively affects job satisfaction and negatively affects turnover intention.The interaction between ambivalent occupational identification and occupational discrimination has a significant positive effect on occupational disidentification,and occupational disidentification then negatively affects job satisfaction and positively affects turnover intention.(3)Multiple supports(organization support,laoxiang support,and family support)negatively moderated the relationship between perceived non-decent work and ambivalent occupational identification,and active or avoidance stigma coping strategies mediated the moderating effect of team-oriented leadership on the relationship between perceived non-decent work and ambivalent occupational identification.The possible theoretical contributions of this study include:(1)Introducing perspective of “ambivalent occupational identification” to understand the identity dilemma of non-decent workers,which helps to fundamentally reveal the real occupational cognition state of non-decent workers fundamentally.In the scenario of non-decent work,ambivalent occupational identification is more realistic than the simple occupational identification or disidentification.(2)Combining social identity theory and ambivalent perspective,this study explores the formation mechanism of ambivalent occupational identification of non-decent workers.The results indicate that under the influence of family motivation and job opportunity,non-decent workers may induce experienced conflict due to identity tension,which will further lead to ambivalent occupational identification.These finding provide a new theoretical perspective and empirical basis to understand non-decent workers’ ambivalent occupational identification.(3)To investigate the “double-edged sword” effects ambivalent occupational identification of non-decent workers,pointing out that ambivalent occupational identification can stimulate the tendencies of integration or separation between individual and occupation through different situational factors,and then results in both positive and negative effects.It challenges the presupposition that the impact of ambivalent occupational identification on the simplicity is equal to occupational disidentification.(4)To explore the intervention strategies of ambivalent occupational identification of non-decent workers from the perspective of multiple supporting resources,pointing out that organization support can influence the relationship between ambivalent occupational identification and perceived non-decent work through occupational stigma coping strategies.It provides empirical support for the factors influencing the choice of occupational stigma coping strategies for non-decent workers,and expands the study of occupational stigma coping strategies from the practitioners themselves to the social support system.