The relationship of organizational and social coping resources to employee coping behaviour: A longitudinal analysis

Research on the determinants of coping behaviour has focused primarily on stressor-specific influences and on personal attributes and skills that serve as coping resources. However, coping resources can also include aspects of the organizational and social environment. This study investigates the role of supportive work relationships and of participation and influence in decision-making in determining the coping behaviour of employees in a manufacturing plant. Since the relationships between worksite coping resources and employee coping behaviours may be causally reciprocal, longitudinal models were analysed to sort out causal priorities. Results showed that organizational and social coping resources did influence subsequent coping behaviour. Perceiving oneself to have influence over decision-making at work predicted increases in active, problem-solving coping attempts and decreases in resignation in response to worksite stressors. Also, employees who perceived their co-workers and supervisors to be supportive were more likely to increase their mobilization of that support when faced with worksite stress. In addition, the use of certain employee coping behaviours influenced subsequent levels of participation in decision-making, as well as the quality of relationships with co-workers and supervisors.     

An Examination of Perceived Organizational Support as a Multidimensional Construct in the Context of an Expatriate Assignment

We examined a multidimensional measure of perceived organizational support (adjustment POS, career POS, and financial POS) within an integtrative stress model of expatriate success. Expatriate success was defined in terms of multiple criteria and the predictors included role stressors, situational stressors, supervisor support, and POS. Hypotheses were tested with 230 expatriate-supervisor dyads and S.E.M. analyses. Support was found for a partially mediated model. The results showed that the POS dimensions differentially predicted expatriate success criteria.     

The relationship of organizational and social coping resources to employee coping behaviour: A longitudinal analysis

Abstract

Research on the determinants of coping behaviour has focused primarily on stressor-specific influences and on personal attributes and skills that serve as coping resources. However, coping resources can also include aspects of the organizational and social environment. This study investigates the role of supportive work relationships and of participation and influence in decision-making in determining the coping behaviour of employees in a manufacturing plant. Since the relationships between worksite coping resources and employee coping behaviours may be causally reciprocal, longitudinal models were analysed to sort out causal priorities. Results showed that organizational and social coping resources did influence subsequent coping behaviour. Perceiving oneself to have influence over decision-making at work predicted increases in active, problem-solving coping attempts and decreases in resignation in response to worksite stressors. Also, employees who perceived their co-workers and supervisors to be supportive were more likely to increase their mobilization of that support when faced with worksite stress. In addition, the use of certain employee coping behaviours influenced subsequent levels of participation in decision-making, as well as the quality of relationships with co-workers and supervisors.     

Role stress among Canadian white-collar workers

The incidence of various stressors at work and outside work was examined in a group of public service workers with a large Canadian federal government department. Workers were either in clerical, technical and supervisory ('officers'), or management positions. Measures of work stress included role stressors (load, insufficiency, conflict ambiguity and responsibility), as well as stress due to the physical environment. Both life events and daily hassles were included as measures of non-work stress. The consequences of stress were considered in terms of vocational, psychological, interpersonal, and physical strain, as well as in terms of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Potential moderators of stress included social support and self-esteem. Among work stressors conflict, ambiguity and insufficiency were the more closely associated with vocational outcomes. MANCOVA followed by discriminant function analysis showed that clerical workers were distinguished by higher levels of insufficiency, officers by higher levels of conflict and the lowest levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and managers by higher levels of perceived responsibility for others. The results are discussed in terms of social role theory.     

The availability of personal and external coping resources: Thier impact on job stress and employee attitudes during organizational restructuring

This study examines the relationships among personal coping resources, social support, external coping resources, job stressors and job strains in a sample of 110 American Telephone and Telegraph employees undergoing a major organizational restructuring. The study expanded on a model suggested by Ashford (1988) by defining another category of coping resources that employees may draw upon to deal with the stressors and strains which occur during major organizational changes. External coping resources were defined as those which provided employees with a sense of 'vicarious control' in stressful situations. Results indicated that personal coping resources, social support and external coping resources had a direct effect upon job stressor and strain levels. No 'buffering' effect of these coplng resources was found. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that external coping resources added to the prediction of job stressors and strains even when pertonal coping resources and social support were entered first into the prediction questions.     

组织支持感与工作投入的曲线关系及其边界条件

作为一种工作资源,组织支持感是员工工作投入的重要预测变量。但是,基于社会交换理论,组织支持感也可能增加员工角色外的投入、减少对工作角色的投入。在一定条件下,组织支持感与工作投入可能存在非线性的关系。采用302名证券行业员工问卷,考察组织支持感与工作投入的曲线关系,进一步探索情感承诺对该曲线关系的调节作用。在检验共同方法偏差的基础上,采用多项式回归对研究假设进行检验。研究结果表明,在控制员工的情感承诺后,组织支持感与工作投入呈显著U形曲线关系。情感承诺显著调节组织支持感与工作投入的曲线关系,即情感承诺高的员工,组织支持感与工作投入呈U形曲线关系;而情感承诺低的员工,组织支持感与工作投入呈显著线性关系。总体而言,研究结果进一步支持组织支持感对工作投入潜在的负面影响,尤其是具有高情感承诺的员工其感知到的组织支持只有超过一定水平后才会对工作投入产生积极的影响。     

The Contingent Effects of Role Ambiguity and Role Novelty on Expatriates' Work‐related Outcomes

Research on work stress has highlighted its negative outcomes for both individuals and their employers. Overseas assignments are more stressful than domestic assignments, and their relatively high failure rates are well documented. We suggest, however, that certain types of stress can positively affect expatriate performance. Based on role theory and the distinction between hindrance and challenge stressors, we develop hypotheses regarding the influence of role ambiguity and role novelty on expatriate success. We also conceptualize and empirically investigate the moderating influence of expatriates' perceptions of organizational support and supervisor support. Our hypotheses are tested using a sample of 125 Japanese expatriate managers in Germany. We find that role ambiguity is a hindrance stressor and negatively affects job satisfaction and work adjustment, while role novelty acts as a challenge stressor and positively affects job satisfaction, task performance and work adjustment. Our findings also show that perceived organizational support attenuates the negative effects of role ambiguity on work adjustment and strengthens the positive effect of role novelty on job satisfaction. We also find that supervisor support positively moderates the positive effect of role novelty on job satisfaction and work adjustment.     

Perceived Support and Women's Intentions to Stay at a Sport Organization

Women remain underrepresented in upper management within sport organizations and more broadly. This research examines organizational factors that may affect women's (and men's) likelihood of remaining with their sport organization, which would presumably affect their willingness and ability to step into leadership roles. The research examines the effects of equity human resource management practices, top management support for gender equity and gender‐related barriers on organizational commitment and intent to stay with their sport organization, as well as whether changes in perceived organizational support would mediate the relationships. Results from a survey of current employees in Australian sport organizations generally support the hypotheses. Perceived top management support for gender equity is a strong and consistent predictor of outcomes, and the effect is mediated by perceived organizational support. Implications for top management's role in implementing gender equity practices are discussed.     

The influences of gender and grade on perceived work stress and job satisfaction in white collar employees

A self-completion questionnaire survey was carried out, resulting in a sample of 675 white collar public sector employees. The survey examined the frequency of occurrence of work-based stressors and perceived control, and included a general measure of job satisfaction. The results revealed that higher levels of job satisfaction were reported by employees in higher grades. It was also observed that higher grades perceived more control within their working environment. No gender differenccs were found concerning reported stress problems, although significant differences were observed across grades in relation to role differentiation. Multivariate analyses revealed that grade effects were largely accounted for by differences in perceived control. Perceived control, role-based and organizational stressors as well as gender were the strongest contributors in predicting reported job satisfaction.     

Linking perceived organizational support with employee work outcomes in a Chinese context: Organizational identification as a mediator

Perceived organizational support (POS) is viewed as an important explanatory framework for understanding the relationship between employees and the workplace, and is regarded by some researchers as central in understanding job-related attitudes and behaviors of employees. However, less research has taken into account the role of organizational identification, which reflects how individuals define the self with respect to their organization, as a potential influence on such relationships. Drawing on a cross-organizational sample of 238 subordinate-supervisor dyads from the People’s Republic of China, we examined whether organizational identification mediates the effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on work outcomes including turnover intentions, work performance, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Results from the current study showed that organizational identification fully mediates the relation of POS to OCB-directed to individuals, and partially mediates relations between POS and other work outcomes (turnover intention, work performance, OCB-directed to organization). Implications for management theory and practice are discussed.     

The cross-cultural adjustment process of expatriate families in a multinational organization: a family system theory perspective

This case study examined the relationship between the family flexibility of expatriates in a multinational corporation and their cross-cultural adjustment, as well as the stressors experienced by the expatriate, spouse, and children during the international transition. Family flexibility was negatively correlated with cross-cultural adjustment as perceived by the participating expatriates. All five cross-cultural adjustment dimensions (cultural, psychological, organizational, personal and relational) had a statistically significant relationship with family flexibility. Expatriate families identified cultural, relational, and psychological stressors as having the greatest impact on their cross-cultural adjustment. The components of family flexibility (roles, rules, assertiveness and leadership) played a key role in the cross-cultural adjustment of the expatriate, spouse and children. These findings provide insights to organizations and their human resource development professionals as well as to expatriates and their families on how family flexibility impacts cross-cultural adjustment – insights that could lead to the development of appropriate support and development mechanisms.     

Unravelling the relationship between role overload and organizational citizenship behaviour: A test of mediating and moderating effects

Building on the conservation of resources theory and self-determination theory, the present study develops and tests a moderated mediation model of organizational citizenship behaviour, in which a) emotional exhaustion serves as a mediating mechanism linking role overload with organizational citizenship behaviour, and b) supervisor autonomy support moderates the relationship between role overload and organizational citizenship behaviour through emotional exhaustion. Results of a time-lagged study of 144 workers from various Canadian organizations provided support for the hypothesized model: supervisor autonomy support buffered a negative effect of role overload on emotional exhaustion and, indirectly, organizational citizenship behaviour. This research sheds light on the intervening variables that may explain the relationship between challenge stressors and extra-role behaviours. It also provides information on managerial practices that may protect employees’ optimal functioning against an excessive workload.     

The Role of Social Support in Coping during the Anticipatory Stage of Organizational Change: A Test of an Integrative Model

Few researchers have explored how employees use social support to cope during organizational change. The current research proposed and tested a model that integrates moderation and mediation effects in order to understand how perceived available support influences employees' use of support mobilization to deal with change‐related stress. Survey data were collected from 476 health professionals working in a large public hospital undergoing large‐scale change and downsizing. Moderated path analyses revealed evidence to suggest that perceived available support plays a moderated mediation role during coping with change. Support mobilization mediated the indirect relationship between change‐related stress and job satisfaction, at both low and high levels of perceived available colleague support. Perceived available non‐work support moderated the relationship between support mobilization and job satisfaction, and perceived available supervisor support moderated the relationship between change‐related stress and support mobilization. The direction of simple effects was not always as expected and alternative explanations for these unexpected findings are offered, along with practical implications for supervisors managing organizational change.     

Discrepancies between chronological age and personal age as a reflection of unrelieved worker stress

The general proposition that stress-related variables will be associated with discrepancies between chronological age and perceived personal age of working adults was examined. Responses from a field survey of day, afternoon, and night fixed-shift workers in a large manufacturing organization (n = 1674) were used to explore the relationships between a variety of reported stress-related variables and personal age constructs. Discrepancies between perceived personal age and chronological age were reported by a large proportion of the workers surveyed. Three categories of stress-related variables each accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in discrepancies. As hypothesized, the reported presence of stressors and the frequency/extent of strains (stress-related outcomes) were positively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. In addition, the reported presence of support mechanisms for coping with stressors was negatively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. The manner in which work and non-work stress may impinge upon personal age perceptions is discussed, and appropriate avenues for future research in this domain are considered.     

Employees' perceptions of organizational restructuring: the role of social support

Organizational change and restructuring is often perceived as leading to increased occupational stress, impacting negatively on the psychological well-being of employees. This pragmatic study investigates the role of social support and dispositional affect as moderators of role stress post-restructuring for employees in a public utility company. A total of 176 employees, including 37 managers, 60 graded staff and 78 industrial staff completed a self-report questionnaire, approximately 1 year postrestructuring, retrospectively assessing role conflict, ambiguity, overload and positive and negative feedback pre- and post-restructuring. Results suggested that overall role stress increased for managers/ senior officers and graded staff, but not for industrial staff. Social support was linked with lower role stress, more positive feedback and less negative feedback at post-restructuring. For certain role stressors this impact was moderated by dispositional affect, but the effect was not consistent across occupational groups. Positive affect enhanced the effect of manager support in reducing role conflict for graded staff, and the effect of co-worker support in increasing positive feedback and reducing negative feedback for industrial staff. Findings suggest that managers should pay particular attention to support and feedback for employees during periods of chronic occupational stress following organizational restructuring.     

Employees' perceptions of organizational restructuring: The role of social support

Organizational change and restructuring is often perceived as leading to increased occupational stress, impacting negatively on the psychological well-being of employees. This pragmatic study investigates the role of social support and dispositional affect as moderators of role stress post-restructuring for employees in a public utility company. A total of 176 employees, including 37 managers, 60 graded staff and 78 industrial staff completed a self-report questionnaire, approximately 1 year postrestructuring, retrospectively assessing role conflict, ambiguity, overload and positive and negative feedback pre- and post-restructuring. Results suggested that overall role stress increased for managers/ senior officers and graded staff, but not for industrial staff. Social support was linked with lower role stress, more positive feedback and less negative feedback at post-restructuring. For certain role stressors this impact was moderated by dispositional affect, but the effect was not consistent across occupational groups. Positive affect enhanced the effect of manager support in reducing role conflict for graded staff, and the effect of co-worker support in increasing positive feedback and reducing negative feedback for industrial staff. Findings suggest that managers should pay particular attention to support and feedback for employees during periods of chronic occupational stress following organizational restructuring.     

组织支持感对员工工作行为的影响:心理资本中介作用的实证研究

组织支持感在人力资源管理中的价值已经受到管理者的重视,但是它与员工工作行为的关系还有待进一步研究。通过在全国不同地区调查的721份样本,本文实证研究了心理资本在组织支持感影响员工工作行为中的作用。研究结论是:组织支持感和心理资本能对员工工作行为产生直接或间接影响;心理资本在组织支持感对员工角色内行为和缺勤行为的影响中起到部分中介作用,在组织支持感对员工组织公民行为的影响中起到完全中介作用。     

Discrepancies between chronological age and personal age as a reflection of unrelieved worker stress

Abstract

The general proposition that stress-related variables will be associated with discrepancies between chronological age and perceived personal age of working adults was examined. Responses from a field survey of day, afternoon, and night fixed-shift workers in a large manufacturing organization (n = 1674) were used to explore the relationships between a variety of reported stress-related variables and personal age constructs. Discrepancies between perceived personal age and chronological age were reported by a large proportion of the workers surveyed. Three categories of stress-related variables each accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in discrepancies. As hypothesized, the reported presence of stressors and the frequency/extent of strains (stress-related outcomes) were positively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. In addition, the reported presence of support mechanisms for coping with stressors was negatively correlated with feeling older than one's chronological age. The manner in which work and non-work stress may impinge upon personal age perceptions is discussed, and appropriate avenues for future research in this domain are considered.     

Employee absence, age and tenure: a study of nonlinear effects and trivariate models

Multiple regression techniques were used to explore the nature of the relationships between age, tenure and absence in 2417 British local government workers drawn from three work groups. The data were collected from organizational records and included measures of both non-certified absence and medically certified absence. Linear and curvilinear associations among age, tenure and absence were examined. The possible moderating or mediating role of tenure in the relationship between age and absence was subsequently analysed. The data revealed linear relationships between age and absence that were negative for non-certified absence and positive for certified absence. In contrast, curvilinear relationships were found between tenure and absence that were U-shaped for noncertified absence and inverse U-shaped for certified absence. Tenure was found to moderate but not to mediate the relationship between age and absence. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of the changing age and career paths of the workforce, and of methodological issues in absence research.     

核心自我评价、组织支持对主客观职业成功的影响:人-情境互动的视角

以212名企业员工为研究对象,考察了核心自我评价、组织支持以及二者的交互作用对主客观职业成功的影响。研究结果表明:主观职业成功(工作、职业和生活满意度)和客观职业成功(收入、晋升次数和速度)是2种相关但不同的职业成功类型;核心自我评价和组织支持对主客观职业成功均有一定的影响,但它们对客观职业成功的影响效果弱于社会-人口和人力资本特征;与特质激发理论相一致,核心自我评价和组织支持在对职业成功的影响上存在一定的交互效应,表现为组织支持会强化核心自我评价对职业成功的正向影响,且高核心自我评价的员工在得到高组织支持时有最高的职业成功水平。