From pre-disruption success to disruption survival: The role of pre-disruption job performance evaluation in work outcomes during disruption

The Double-Edged Sword Effects of Career Calling on Occupational Embeddedness: Mediating Roles of Work–Family Conflict and Career Adaptability

Summary While the prevalence of terrorism has increased substantially, there is a paucity of research on the effects of terrorism on employee behavior at work. Building on conservation of resources (COR) theory, and its extension, the conservation of social resources theory, we close gaps in the literature by investigating the effect of fear of terror on increased job burnout over time, the mediating effect of insomnia, and the moderating effect of supervisor and co-worker support on these relationships. This longitudinal study followed a large sample of Israeli employees (n = 670) across three time measurements over 7 years, in a time period characterized by a high number of terror attacks. The results showed fear of terror to be related to elevated job burnout over time, even during a period in which terror attacks were reduced substantially. Further, insomnia mediated the relationship between fear of terror and increased burnout, while co-worker support, but not supervisor support, moderated the relationships between fear of terror and increased insomnia and between increased insomnia and increased burnout. The results further support the notion of loss cycles in COR theory, as well as the importance of social resources, which are the cornerstones of conservation of social resources theory. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Based on the Threat‐to‐Self‐Esteem (TSE) model integrated with the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, we proposed an inverted U‐shaped curvilinear relationship between receiving instrumental social support and task performance, mediated by work engagement. Further, grounded on the TSE model, we proposed the provision of instrumental social support neutralises the curvilinear association between receiving instrumental social support and work engagement. We examined these hypotheses using two samples of South Korean employees. In Study 1, we collected three‐wave data (N = 302) from employees in a manufacturing company and found curvilinear associations between receiving instrumental social support and work outcomes (i.e. work engagement and task performance), supporting the Too‐Much‐of‐a‐Good‐Thing (TMGT) effects. However, we did not find support for the moderating (neutralising) effects. In Study 2, we replicated the model that was supported in Study 1 (curvilinear model), using a different sample and two‐wave daily diary method (N = 530, construction employees). Overall, based on the TSE model, the COR theory, and TMGT principles, in two settings and with different methods, we found support for curvilinear associations between receiving instrumental social support and work outcomes and an indirect curvilinear effect of receiving instrumental social support on task performance via work engagement.

The COVID-19 pandemic had widespread impact, with evidence indicating lasting effects on wellbeing. This study aims to examine enduring impacts through individual narratives, using Conservation of Resources (COR) theory that serves for studying crises. Analysis of narratives from 1148 responses to an open-ended question about pandemic's lasting effects, using qualitative and quantitative methods within COR theory framework including thematic analysis, Elastic Net Regression, word cloud visualization and sociodemographic analysis. About 42% of respondents reported lasting effects, with almost equal distribution between 'Loss' and 'Gain' groups, and 7% reporting mixed experiences. COR resources manifested as: work-finance and social bonds showed both disruption and strengthening; mental health, physical health and protective habits characterized loss narratives. Gain narratives were predominantly characterized by renewed perspective and personalized time investment. Women reported more physical health impacts. Resource combinations exemplified resource caravans. 'Mixed' group revealed complex balance of loss-gain dynamics. Work-life balance emerged as a sustained valued asset. The findings align with COR theory principles. Three years post-pandemic onset, while lasting losses persist, narratives indicate shifting dynamics toward gains, predominantly reflecting transformed perspectives. Findings enhance COR theory in pandemic context and inform policy by highlighting emotional toll management and work-life balance preservation.

Purpose Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this research conceptualizes career sustainability as a process of resource adjustment in response to career shocks. It explores the influence of career shocks on career sustainability, focusing on the mediating function of career crafting. Furthermore, this study aims to investigate whether perceived organizational support moderates the effect of career shocks on career sustainability. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered through a two-wave survey from 493 hotel employees in China, and the proposed hypotheses were examined using structural equation modeling. Findings This study shows that career shocks exert divergent effects on hotel employees’ career sustainability, with career crafting mediating this relationship. Perceived organizational support further moderates these effects, indicating that supportive career environments can buffer or amplify the impact of career shocks. These findings advance understanding of how unexpected career events interact with individual and organizational factors to shape long-term career development in the hospitality sector. Practical implications Hotels should strategically manage career shocks by fostering career crafting and strengthening organizational support, thereby enabling employees to accumulate resources, enhance adaptability and sustain long-term careers in dynamic service environments. Originality/value This study applies COR theory to reveal how positive and negative career shocks impact career sustainability through career crafting, and how perceived organizational support moderates these effects. It advances hospitality career research by integrating individual and organizational perspectives within a moderated mediation framework, offering actionable insights for sustaining hotel employees’ careers.

Many service firms require frontline service employees (FLEs) to follow routines and standardized operating procedures during the service encounter, to deliver consistently high service standards. However, to create superior, pleasurable experiences for customers, featuring both helpful services and novel approaches to meeting their needs, firms in various sectors also have begun to encourage FLEs to engage in more innovative service behaviors. This study therefore investigates a new and complementary route to customer loyalty, beyond the conventional service–profit chain, that moves through FLEs' innovative service behavior. Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study introduces a resource gain spiral at the service encounter, which runs from FLEs' emotional job engagement to innovative service behavior, and then leads to customer delight and finally customer loyalty. In accordance with COR theory, the proposed model also includes factors that might hinder (customer aggression, underemployment) or foster (colleague support, supervisor support) FLEs' resource gain spiral. A multilevel analysis of a large‐scale, dyadic data set that contains responses from both FLEs and customers in multiple industries strongly supports the proposed resource gain spiral as a complementary route to customer loyalty. The positive emotional job engagement–innovative service behavior relationship is undermined by customer aggression and underemployment, as hypothesized. Surprisingly though, and contrary to the hypotheses, colleague and supervisor support do not seem to foster FLEs' resource gain spiral. Instead, colleague support weakens the engagement–innovative service behavior relationship, and supervisor support does not affect it. These results indicate that if FLEs can solicit resources from other sources, they may not need to invest as many of their individual resources. In particular, colleague support even appears to serve as a substitute for FLEs' individual resource investments in the resource gain spiral.

Distressed and drained: Consequences of intimate partner aggression and the buffering role of supervisor support

Drawing from conservation of resources theory, this research examines how and when mentors’ family – work conflict is related to protégés’ work outcomes (i.e. job performance and career satisfaction). We proposed mentors’ family – work conflict depleted their resources, thus had a negative influence on protégés’ work outcomes. Further, we addressed the mediating role of mentoring functions (i.e. career support, psychosocial support, and role modeling) and the moderating roles of mentors’ core self-evaluation and mentor – protégé relational quality. We tested the hypothesized moderated mediation model using time-lagged data from 162 mentor – protégé dyads in a large Chinese pharmacy chain company. The results demonstrated that (a) mentors’ family – work conflict was negatively associated with protégés’ work outcomes; (b) mentoring functions mediated this relationship; (c) mentors’ core self-evaluation and mentor – protégé relational quality moderated the main effect of mentors’ family – work conflict on mentoring functions and the indirect effect of mentors’ family – work conflict on protégés’ work outcomes via mentoring functions; and (d) the indirect effect was significant when mentors’ core self-evaluation or mentor – protégé relational quality was low. Important implications for management research are discussed.

Aim: The first object of the present study was to compare Leiter and Maslach's original model (1988) and the revised model (proposed by Leiter in 1991). The second object was to ascertain whether the process model of burnout proposed by Leiter in 1993 is applicable to Japanese nurses. Workload demand, role conflict, and interpersonal conflict were selected as organizational demands, and supervisor support, coworker support, and occupational decision authority as resources.Methods: The subjects were Japanese clinical nurses (n = 238) working at a municipal general hospital. One hundred and eighty‐three effective data was obtained. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation analysis.Results: The results supported the revised model which maintained the sequential link from exhaustion to cynicism, but recast the relationship of professional efficacy with another two components of burnout. The hypothesized model was revised based on findings and re‐analysed. The organizational demands exhibited a significant positive correlation to exhaustion. Cynicism exhibited a negative correlation to supervisor support. The job decision authority exhibited a positive correlation to professional efficacy. However, the hypothesis that supervisor support exhibits a positive correlation to professional efficacy was not supported.Conclusions: Leiter's process model of burnout is conceptualized based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory. The results of the present study were reasonably in line with the COR theory. It was suggested that Leiter's model should be applicable to Japanese nurses.

Although the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory is an influential theory of stress and human motivation, it has seen scant use in sports psychology. Nonetheless, as a broad psychological theory, COR theory can be useful in the theory-driven sport psychology practice. By focusing on the dynamic interplay between resource gain and loss, COR theory illuminates the processes that underlie effective coping and adaptation during athletes’ transitions. Its terminology can be translated into structured, pragmatic, and goal-oriented language that resonates with athletes undergoing transitions. This article aims to present the key concepts of COR theory, explore how it may be a suitable addition to the existing literature on athletes’ transitions, and demonstrate its relevance and applicability through a brief clinical example.

Objectives: The Conservation of Resources (COR) theory suggests that stress results from threatened or actual loss of resources following significant life events. This study used COR theory as the framework to explore the reflection of loss of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress and resilience, in an adult Jewish Israeli population.Methods: We examined the association between background variables, stress, loneliness, concern, COVID-19-related post traumatic symptoms (PTS), resilience factors and COR via an online survey among 2,000 adults during April 2020.Results: Positive relationships were identified between resource loss and PTS (r = 0.66, p < 0.01), and between resource gain and resilience (r = 0.30, p < 0.01). Psychological variables were significantly associated with PTS and explained 62.7% of the variance, F (20, 1,413) = 118.58, p < 0.001.Conclusion: Loss of resources, stress, loneliness and concern were found to be risk factors for distress and PTS, whereas resilience factors played a protective role. We thus recommend using the COR theory to explore COVID-19 effects elsewhere.

PurposeExisting studies have demonstrated the significances of job, personal and social resources in stimulating work engagement (WKE). However, the role of psychological empowerment (PYE) in linking these resources to WKE has received limited attention. Hence, drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this paper investigates the effects of friends and family support (FFS), supervisor support (SST), and employee resilience (ERS) in stimulating PYE for WKE amid the uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachWith a survey instrument, the authors collected data from 259 knowledge workers in Malaysia and analyzed the hypothesized model with the partial least square (PLS) structural equation modeling technique.FindingsThe data support the significant effects of FFS, SST, and ERS on PYE. Also, PYE was a significant mediator of FFS, SST, and ERS effects on WKE.Originality/valueThis study offers empirical support for the relevance of COR theory in explaining how employees adjust to the burden of uncertainty and psychological stress associated with the COVID-19 mandated “work from home” (WFH) practices through their engagement in work.

PurposeBased on the conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2002), this study first investigates the direct influence of core self-evaluations (CSEs) on work-to-family (W → F) and family-to-work (F → W) conflicts. Second, it tests the mediating impact of Social support from work and home domains in the associations between CSEs and both directions of work-family conflict. This study finally examines the moderating influence of CSEs in the associations between work and home domain social support and both directions of work-family conflict.Design/methodology/approachHuman resources professionals (629), and engineers (169) employed in Canada completed an online survey. Both directions of work-family conflict were measured as well as CSEs, and work and home domain social support.FindingsResults indicate that higher CSEs are associated with lower W → F and F → W conflicts. They also suggest an indirect association between CSEs and W → F conflict through supervisor support. The indirect association between CSEs and F → W conflict through home domain social support was also supported. Besides, it appears that CSEs moderate the association between home support and F → W conflict.Research limitations/implicationsOur findings underscore the relevance of considering both dispositional and environmental factors together in work-life research. Results question within- vs. cross-domain conceptualizations of work-life spillover. They also indicate how both differential choice and effectiveness operate in conjunction with managing work-life domains.Originality/valueThe research presents a comprehensive model linking work-family conflict, social support and CSEs. It draws from an integrative personality framework (Judge et al., 1998) and COR theory (Hobfoll, 1989) to explore the underlying processes of CSEs, often inferred but not specified or incorporated into work-life research.

Drawing from conservation of resources (COR) theory and the equifinality principle, we challenge the prominent “the‐more‐resources‐the‐better” understanding by examining both the additive and interactive effects of contextual (i.e., networking behaviors and social support) and personal (i.e., job search self‐efficacy) resources on job seeking. Specifically, based on COR theory's resource gain corollary, we propose that higher levels of each resource are positively related to job search intensity and the number of interviews obtained (an additive effect). However, based on the equifinality principle that various resources can contribute to the same goal, we propose that each type of resource can compensate for low levels of the other (an interactive effect). In a four‐wave study following 89 unemployed job seekers over 6 months, we find positive intra‐individual relationships between networking behaviors and job search self‐efficacy with job search intensity. We find that networking behaviors and job search self‐efficacy are also positively related to the number of job interviews obtained and indirectly related through job search intensity for networking behaviors. In line with our predictions, high levels of either networking behaviors or job search self‐efficacy compensate for low levels of the other resource when predicting job search intensity and the number of interviews obtained.

This study investigates how perceived work from home (WFH) stress affects job and life satisfaction and the role of specific personal and job resources in stress and job and life satisfaction for WFH employees. The rising demand for WFH due to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in employees’ job and overall life satisfaction. We conducted a quantitative survey of 283 first-time WFH employees in Bangladesh, applied the job demands–resources (JD-R) and conservation of resources (COR) theories, and employed a partial least squares–structural equation model. The results indicate that high stress resulting from WFH reduces job and life satisfaction; under such unusual work conditions, job satisfaction is a strong predictor of life satisfaction. Moreover, the effects of personal resources, such as job competence and perceived hope, on life satisfaction become operational through perceived supervisor support, perceived WFH stress and job satisfaction. Our study contributed to the literature by applying the JD-R and COR theories in a new WFH context to suggest that job resources, such as perceived supervisor support, become more effective when an employee is exposed to WFH for the first time, and some personal resources, such as job competence, become dependent on job resources.