Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) as reversed IT adoption: Insights into managers’ coping strategies

The adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), initiated by employees, refers to the provision and use of personal mobile devices and applications for both private and business purposes. This bottom-up phenomenon, not initiated by managers, corresponds to a reversed IT adoption logic that simultaneously entails business opportunities and threats. Managers are thus confronted with this unchosen BYOD usage by employees and consequently adopt different coping strategies. This research aims to investigate the adaptation strategies embraced by managers to cope with the BYOD phenomenon. To this end, we operationalized the coping model of user adaptation (CMUA) in the organizational decision-making context to conduct a survey addressing 337 top managers. Our main results indicate that the impact of the CMUA constructs varies according to the period (pre- or post-implementation). The coping strategies differ between those who have already implemented measures to regulate BYOD usage and those who have not. We contribute to theory by integrating the perception of BYOD-related opportunities and threats and by shedding light on the decisional processes in the adoption of coping strategies. The managerial contributions of this research correspond to the improved protection of corporate information and the maximization of BYOD-related benefits.     

Violence against child protection workers: A study of workers’ experiences,attributions, and coping strategies

Child protection workers (CPWs) are frequently exposed to client violence, both psychological and physical, in their line of work whether they operate in the community or in residential settings. Despite this known vulnerability, research on the subject has lagged. The current study sought to analyze CPWs’ experiences with client violence, their interpretation of it, its perceived consequences and their coping strategies. Specifically, 30 CPWs working both in the community and in residential settings, took part in an in-depth, semi-structured interview. A thematic analysis revealed that CPWs view client violence as a recurring and pervasive problem in their line of work. Residential workers described a greater frequency of violence, especially physical violence. CPWs however perceived violence differently, with some viewing this problem as ‘part-of-the-job’ while others described client violence as a ‘call-for-help’ on behalf of clients. Perceived consequences varied in severity and breath. CPWs reported consequences at the psychological (e.g. fear, hypervilence, sadness, nightmares), organizational (e.g. loss of motivation, turnover intention, sick leaves) and clinical levels (e.g. emotional detachment from clients, avoiding clients). CPWs also described numerous coping strategies, some effective while others appeared short-sighted. This study concludes with recommendations with regards to client violence in child protection work.     

Individual-level factors related to better mental health outcomes following child maltreatment among adolescents

Research on factors associated with good mental health following child maltreatment is often based on unrepresentative adult samples. To address these limitations, the current study investigated the relationship between individual-level factors and overall mental health status among adolescents with and without a history of maltreatment in a representative sample.The objectives of the present study were to: 1) compute the prevalence of mental health indicators by child maltreatment types, 2) estimate the prevalence of overall good, moderate, and poor mental health by child maltreatment types; and 3) examine the relationship between individual-level factors and overall mental health status of adolescents with and without a history of maltreatment. Data were from the National Comorbidity Survey of Adolescents (NCS-A; n = 10,123; data collection 2001–2004); a large, cross-sectional, nationally representative sample of adolescents aged 13–17 years from the United States. All types of child maltreatment were significantly associated with increased odds of having poor mental health (adjusted odds ratios ranged from 3.2 to 9.5). The individual-level factors significantly associated with increased odds of good mental health status included: being physically active in the winter; utilizing positive coping strategies; having positive self-esteem; and internal locus of control (adjusted odds ratios ranged from 1.7 to 38.2). Interventions targeted to adolescents with a history of child maltreatment may want to test for the efficacy of the factors identified above.