Development of management competencies in public administration for preventing stress and promoting the well-being and performance of “traditional” and “remote” workers

This dissertation advances a practical, theory-driven route to tackle work-related stress by focusing on stress-preventive management competencies as a lever to improve the teams’ psychosocial work environment (PWE). Grounded in the MCPARS framework (Yarker et al., 2022) and explicitly aligned with the HSE Management Standards (Cousins et al., 2004), the project addresses two persistent gaps: the limited evidence on supervisor-focused interventions that target PWE, and the neglect of stress-preventive competencies in increasingly digitalized work. Across three studies, the PhD project combines intervention-mechanism testing and field experimentation with new tool development for digitally mediated work. Study 1 tests MCPARS’ training programme logic, showing a sequential pathway from (i) understanding the importance of positive management behaviours, to (ii) increased self-awareness, to (iii) the design of a tailored action plan for change. Study 2 evaluates how and when MCPARS translates into team-level change by comparing two quasi-experimental conditions—training with upward feedback versus self-reflection only—using three waves of team-rated data. While short-term change in team-rated management competencies (≈2 months) did not differ by condition, the upward-feedback produced a five-month improvement in PWE and an indirect gain in team well-being. Study 3 extends the stress-preventive competence paradigm to digital contexts and validate an assessment tool. A mixed-method program identifies two factors—Supportive ICT-Mediated Interaction (SIMI) and Avoidance of Abusive ICT Adoption (AAIA)—that show good psychometrics and theoretically coherent links with PWE domains (SIMI with supervisor support and role; AAIA with demands and control). Taken together, the thesis delivers (a) a clarified micro-mechanism for MCPARS’ proximal training aims, (b) team-level evidence that upward feedback accelerates PWE improvement on a realistic implementation condition, and (c) a usable, well-being-oriented digital competence tool to guide development in hybrid/remote work. Therefore, it advances an integrated prevention architecture to inform intervention studies, future research and practice.