The relation of job control with job strains: A comparison of multiple data sources

This study represents a secondary analysis of existing data that were used in Spector and Jex's (1991) paper. The self‐report and rater‐report job‐stress data were identical to those used in the study by Spector and Jex (1991) . To gain a greater insight into the connections between the objective work environment and employees' job strains, this study added the job‐stress data from a newly developed objective data source – the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database. We found that an O*NET stressor was related to physical and behavioural strains. There is something in the objective environment that plays a role in employees' physical well‐being and behaviour. Objectively measured stressors, however, were unrelated to psychological strains. Explanations were given to the lack of the relationship. Based on these findings, we suspect that there may be somewhat different factors at work for each type of strain.     

Coping with challenge and hindrance stressors in teams: Behavioral,cognitive, and affective outcomes

The purpose of this study was to utilize the challenge–hindrance framework to examine the discrete and combined effects of different environmental stressors on behavioral, cognitive, and affective outcomes at the team level. Results from 83 teams working on a command and control simulation indicated that the introduction of a challenge stressor positively affected team performance and transactive memory. The introduction of a hindrance stressor negatively affected team performance and transactive memory and positively affected psychological withdrawal. When the hindrance stressor was combined with the challenge stressor, teams exhibited the lowest levels of performance and transactive memory, and the highest levels of psychological withdrawal. These effects were due to the adoption of specific coping strategies by team members. Implications are discussed, as well as limitations and directions for future research.     

Work stressors, Chinese coping strategies, and job performance in Greater China

The aim of this research was to jointly test effects of work stressors and coping strategies on job performance among employees in the Greater China region. A self-administered survey was conducted to collect data from three major cities in the region, namely Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei (N = 380). Four important work stressors were assessed: heavy workload, organizational constraints, lack of work autonomy, and interpersonal conflict. We used a four-factor model of Chinese coping strategies composed of hobbies/relaxation, active action, seeking social support, and passive adaptation. Job performance was indicated by both task performance (quantity of work, quality of work, job knowledge) and contextual performance (attendance, getting along with others). We found that: (1) work stressors were related to job performance. Specifically, workload had a positive relation with quantity of work, whereas organizational constraints had negative relations with quantity of work and attendance. In addition, interpersonal conflict had a negative relation with getting along with others. (2) Chinese positive coping strategies were positively related to job performance. Specifically, seeking social support had positive relations with quantity of work and getting along with others, whereas active action had positive relations with attendance and job knowledge. (3) Chinese passive adaptation coping behaviors were negatively related to job performance. Specifically, passive adaptation had negative relations with quantity of work, quality of work, and getting along with others. The present study thus found joint effects of work stressors and coping behaviors among Chinese employees in the Greater China region, encompassing three sub-societies of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Differential effects of Chinese positive and passive coping strategies were also noted. Most importantly, all these effects were demonstrated on multiple indicators of job performance, a rarely studied but important strain variable from the organizational point of view.     

Job search methods,job search outcomes,and job satisfaction of college graduates: a comparison of race and sex

A nationally representative sample of college graduates (N =11,152) were surveyed regarding their job‐seeking behaviors and outcomes. Race and sex differences among the job search strategies used, number of job interviews, number of job offers, annual salary, and job satisfaction were examined. Results indicated significant race and sex differences in job search methods used. There were significant differences in underemployment and job satisfaction as a function of race, and in underemployment and annual salary as a function of sex. There were no significant differences in number of job interviews or job offers regardless of race or sex.     

Self-engagement, stressors, and health: a longitudinal study

The authors examined whether engagement in a performance domain could buffer or exacerbate the consequences of different stressors. Soldiers completed measures of engagement in work, work demands (days training, work hours, and subjective work overload), and symptoms at two time periods. Engagement in work interacted with days training and work hours at Time 1 to predict health symptoms at Time 2 (after controlling Time 1 outcomes). Soldiers highly engaged in their jobs were less likely to report negative consequences under high levels of training/work hours in comparison to soldiers disengaged from their jobs. However, engagement in work interacted with work overload in the opposite manner, with high levels of engagement potentiating the relationship between overload and reports of health symptoms. Engagement in a domain appears to buffer individuals from stressors that do not undermine performance but may exacerbate the impact of stressors that compromise performing well in the domain.     

Passive leadership,role stressors,and affective organizational commitment: A time-lagged study among health care employees

IntroductionThis study examines the relationships of passive leadership and role stressors to affective organizational commitment among hospital employees.ObjectiveThis study's objective was to understand the mediating effect of role stressors (conflict, overload, and ambiguity) in the relation between passive leadership and affective organizational commitment.MethodWe used a structural equation modeling approach on a sample of 185 hospital employees and a time-lagged design in which predictor and mediators were assessed at Time 1 and affective organizational commitment was obtained 3 years later.ResultsFindings revealed that passive leadership was positively related to all three role stressors and that role ambiguity fully mediated a negative relationship between passive leadership and affective organizational commitment. Moreover, the relationship between passive leadership and role conflict was stronger when role overload was high.ConclusionThis study suggests organizations should strive to limit the emergence of passive leadership behaviors among supervisors due to their detrimental effects on the long-term development of affective commitment via role ambiguity.     

Perceptions of job characteristics and affective work outcomes for women and men

One hundred twenty-three men and women participated in a study designed to assess their attitudes about job dimensions and affective work outcomes. This study found that very few differences existed between women's and men's perceptions of job dimensions and work outcomes. It was also shown that little difference existed between men's and women's perceptions of positive relationships between job dimension and affected work outcomes. The authors concluded that differences that exist in work attitudes are artifacts of hierarchical position and sex-role stereotyping and will disappear when women are allowed to move into jobs that are characterized by the presence of high levels of intrinsic job dimensions.     

Relation of employee and manager emotional intelligence to job satisfaction and performance

This study examined the relationships among employees’ emotional intelligence, their manager’s emotional intelligence, employees’ job satisfaction, and performance for 187 food service employees from nine different locations of the same restaurant franchise. We predicted and found that employees’ emotional intelligence was positively associated with job satisfaction and performance. In addition, manager’s emotional intelligence had a more positive correlation with job satisfaction for employees with low emotional intelligence than for those with high emotional intelligence. These findings remain significant after controlling for personality factors. A similar pattern was found for job performance; however, the effect did not meet traditional standards of significance. Applied implications of the results are discussed.     

Simultaneous multiple stressors in the environment: physiological stress reactions, performance, and stress evaluation

Interactive effects of two environmental stressors when simultaneous ly present, i.e., noise and crowding, were analyzed. Four experimental conditions with two intensities of stress for each stressor (high versus low) were created. The stressors were concurrently introduced in laboratory conditions and their effects analyzed using several methodological approaches. More intense and negative effects were expected when the two highest intensities of noise and crowding concurred. 40 people (20 men and 20 women) participated in a study with a 2 x 2 factorial design. Analysis showed an increase in the measures of hemodynamic, endocrine, and neuroendocrine values of participants after being exposed simultaneously to noise and crowding. Similarly, their performance on complex tasks decreased, and they reported a subjective increase in stress. Capacity to cope was indicated by a statistically significant lower mean on the Dimension of Stress scale, tolerance of frustration during the multiple stress condition.     

Young workers’ job self-efficacy and affect: Pathways to health and performance

This longitudinal study of 195 young workers responds to calls for the study of healthy work at discrete life stages. Based on social cognitive and affective events theories and using structural equation modeling, results indicated that both perceived job self-efficacy and job-related affect fully mediate the relationship between interpersonal work conflict at time 1 and the outcomes of job performance and health at time 2. Furthermore, job-related affect mediates the relationship between intrinsic job characteristics at time 1 and job performance and health at time 2. Finally, young workers’ job performance at time 2 was directly predicted by perceptions of intrinsic work quality at time 1. Practical implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Personality, job level, job stressors, and their interaction as predictors of coping behavior

Hypotheses concerning the relationships among job stressors, job level, personality, and coping responses were investigated in a sample of 305 electrical contracting employees. Coping behaviors were measured with questionnaire items based on interviews conducted with a sample of the subjects. Neuroticism (N) and Extraversion (E) were the personality variables most strongly related to coping behavior. Overall, more coping variance was explained by personality than by job stressors; however, when the effects of job level and job stressors were combined, they explained more variance in complaining/quitting and seeking social support than did the personality variables. Both work situation and personality seem to be important variables in the choice of coping behaviors. There was no evidence of interactions among personality, stressors, and job level in explaining coping behavior.     

The role of acceptance and job control in mental health, job satisfaction, and work performance

Acceptance, the willingness to experience thoughts, feelings, and physiological sensations without having to control them or let them determine one's actions, is a major individual determinant of mental health and behavioral effectiveness in a more recent theory of psychopathology. This 2-wave panel study examined the ability of acceptance also to explain mental health, job satisfaction, and performance in the work domain. The authors hypothesized that acceptance would predict these 3 outcomes 1 year later in a sample of customer service center workers in the United Kingdom (N = 412). Results indicated that acceptance predicted mental health and an objective measure of performance over and above job control, negative affectivity, and locus of control. These beneficial effects of having more job control were enhanced when people had higher levels of acceptance. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical relevance of this individual characteristic to occupational health and performance.     

Using selection,optimization, and compensation to reduce job/family stressors: effective when it matters

Previous research has demonstrated that the use of general behaviors specified by a life-management strategy entitled Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) reduces, if only to a small extent, the perceived amounts of the main antecedents (i.e., job/family stressors) of work-family conflict. The results of the current study demonstrate that several variables that impact the amount of resources demanded of, or resources available to, an individual (e.g., supervisor support) moderate the relationship between SOC behaviors and job/family stressors. Specifically, SOC strategies are more effective than previously thought at reducing job/family stressors for precisely those individuals in the most demanding situations.     

Predicting burnout and job satisfaction in workplace counselors: the influence of role stressors,job challenge,and organizational knowledge

The present study examines the antecedents of burnout and job satisfaction among counselors employed in workplace settings. Workplace counselors face the unique demands of managing dual client relationships (individual and organization) within the counseling setting. Antecedents of the job‐related outcomes of burnout and satisfaction are likely to vary from other counseling settings as a function of these unique demands. Survey results from 82 workplace counselors indicated that role conflict was a significant predictor of the experience of burnout and that intrinsic job satisfaction was significantly predicted by the counselors' perceptions of job challenge, as well as by the level of organizational knowledge.     

The relative importance of task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance to global ratings of job performance: a policy-capturing approach

A review of research on job performance suggests 3 broad components: task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance. This study examined the relative importance of each component to ratings of overall performance by using an experimental policy-capturing design. Managers in 5 jobs read hypothetical profiles describing employees' task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance and provided global ratings of performance. Within-subjects regression analyses indicated that the weights given to the 3 performance components varied across raters. Hierarchical cluster analyses indicated that raters' policies could be grouped into 3 homogeneous clusters: (a) task performance weighted highest, (b) counterproductive performance weighted highest, and (c) equal and large weights given to task and counterproductive performance. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that demographic variables were not related to raters' weights.     

Quality of management by objectives,task-related stressors,and non-task-related stressors as predictors of stress and job satisfaction among teleworkers

This study examined the effects of management behaviour together with jobrelated and non-job-related stressors on stress experience and job satisfaction among teleworkers. Fifty-four participants were full- or part-time teleworkers, and eighteen participants were members of a nonteleworking control group with comparable working tasks recruited from the same companies. Self-report measures of quality of MBO, task-related stressors, and non-job-related stressors (predictors) were collected, together with measures of participants' stress experience and job satisfaction (criteria). The three predictor variables represented rather independent stress factors. Consistent with expectations, non-job-related stressors were higher for teleworkers working predominantly at home compared to office-centred teleworkers and nonteleworking controls. Moreover, regression analyses indicated significant effects of quality of MBO and non-job-related stressors on teleworkers' stress experience and job satisfaction. Occupational health and management implications of these results for preventive and prospective aspects of telework design are discussed.     

Regulatory job stressors and their within-person relationships with ego depletion: The roles of state anxiety,self-control effort,and job autonomy

Our research aimed at disentangling the underlying processes of the adverse relationship between regulatory job stressors and ego depletion. Specifically, we analyzed whether state anxiety and self-control effort would mediate the within-person relationships of time pressure, planning and decision-making, and emotional dissonance with ego depletion. In addition, we also tested potential attenuating effects of situational job autonomy on the adverse effects of regulatory job stressors on state anxiety, self-control effort, and ego depletion. Based on an experience sampling design, we gathered a sample of 97 eldercare workers who provided data on 721 experience-sampling occasions. Multilevel moderated serial mediation analyses revealed that time pressure and emotional dissonance, but not planning and decision-making, exerted significant serial indirect effects on ego depletion via state anxiety and self-control effort. Finally, we found conditional serial indirect effects of all three regulatory job stressors on ego depletion as a function of job autonomy. Theoretical implications for scholarly understanding of coping with regulatory job stressors are discussed.     

Manager psychopathy,trait activation,and job performance: a multi-source study

Individuals high in psychopathy are often portrayed as more likely to display antisocial behaviour in the workplace and to demonstrate lower job performance. Current research on the impact of trait psychopathy in the workplace is characterized by divergent findings of moderate versus weak effects. We aim to address two potential causes for these discrepant results: mono-source bias and the failure to consider the situational factors that can activate psychopathy. In addition, we used the triarchic model of psychopathy, which incorporates the meanness dimension, a conceptualization of predatory orientation. Our multi-source design disconfirmed concerns that the effects of psychopathy are merely based on mono-source bias. More specifically, we found that the predatory orientation of managers high in psychopathy and especially high in the trait of meanness was behaviourally activated by high levels of ascendency prospects and prospects for income increases. High psychopathy, mediated by consideration towards subordinates and moderated by high ascendency prospects and high prospects for income increases, was associated with low supervisory job performance ratings. Implications and limitations of our findings and directions for future research are discussed.