Are core self-evaluations a suitable moderator in stressor-detachment relationships? A study among managers' perceived job demands, detachment and strain reactions.

Abstract

The relationships among job demands, personality factors, recovery and psychological health receive increasing attention but are not well understoodOBJECTIVE:Therefore, the present study tests moderating effects among a sample of managers as proposed by the stressor-detachment model. We aimed to determine whether core self-evaluations (CSE) had an influence on the correlations between detachment and strain reactions (depressive symptoms, irritation, exhaustion) and between job demands and detachment. Further, we tested whether detachment attenuates the positive relation between job demands and strain reactions. A convenience sample of managers in three German settings (N = 282) participated in the cross-sectional study. Results based on hierarchical regression analysis showed that high CSE significantly weakened the negative relationship between detachment and depressive symptoms in this sample. However, CSE did not moderate the negative relationship between job demands and detachment. Moreover, results revealed that detachment moderated the positive relation between job demands and exhaustion. The authors tested whether CSE was able to moderate the relationship between job demands, psychological detachment and different stress reactions. Although we found a significant interaction effect, CSE may be too distal to moderate all respective associations.