title: Team spirit makes the difference: the interactive effects of team work engagement and organizational constraints during a military operation on psychological outcomes afterwards.
abstract: This article prospectively explores the effects of collective team work engagement and organizational constraints during military deployment on individual-level psychological outcomes afterwards. Participants were 971 Dutch peacekeepers within 93 teams who were deployed between the end of 2008 and beginning of 2010, for an average of 4 months, in the International Security Assistance Force. Surveys were administered 2 months into deployment and 6 months afterwards. Multi-level regression analyses demonstrated that team work engagement during deployment moderated the relation between organizational constraints and post-deployment fatigue symptoms. Team members reported less fatigue symptoms after deployment if they were part of highly engaged teams during deployment, particularly when concerns about organizational constraints during deployment were high. In contrast, low team work engagement was related to more fatigue symptoms, particularly when concerns about organizational constraints were high. Contrary to expectations, no effects for team work engagement or organizational constraints were found for post-traumatic growth. The present study highlights that investing in team work engagement is important for those working in highly demanding jobs.
authors.affiliation: Research Group Organizational and Occupational Psychology and Professional Learning, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Boermans
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kamphuis
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Delahaij
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Euwema
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005221:Fatigue / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009426:Netherlands; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: fatigue symptoms; longitudinal research; organizational constraints; post-traumatic growth; team work engagement