How public commuting stress promotes employee turnover intention: an examination through the lens of the transactional theory of stress

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background and objectives The potential detrimental effects of commuting stress have gradually attracted scholars’ interest in recent years. Going beyond the perspectives of prior studies (e.g., conservation of resources theory), this study offers a new explanatory framework for the relationship between employees’ commuting stress and turnover intention based on the transactional theory of stress. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the mediating effect of hindrance appraisal and the moderating effect of trait mindfulness. Design and method To test the hypotheses, we collected two-wave data from 243 employees working in various Chinese firms. Path analysis was used for the analysis. Results The findings demonstrated that hindrance appraisal mediated the positive relationship between commuting stress and turnover intention. In addition, trait mindfulness buffered the relationship between commuting stress and turnover intention as well as the indirect effect of hindrance appraisal on this relationship. Conclusions The findings highlight the stressor appraisal mechanism in the association between commuting stress and turnover intention and identify trait mindfulness as a key coping mechanism for reducing commuting stress.