Shared stressors and core self-evaluations: A trait activation perspective on employee performance

Abstract

In this study, we examined the impact of shared stressors at the group level on the relationship between employee core self-evaluations (CSE) and their performance (job performance and organisational citizenship behaviour, OCB). Drawing on Tett and Burnett's (2003) trait activation theory, we theorised that shared challenge and hindrance stressors at the group level provide cues for individual trait expression. Core self-evaluators respond (or show lack of response) to these cues by varying their performance. In a sample of 217 employee- supervisor dyads working in a manufacturing facility, we found that core self-evaluators perform better when the shared level of challenge stressors is high, and hindrance stressors is low. However, unlike job performance, the employees were more likely to demonstrate OCB only when the shared level of hindrance stressors is low. Our findings advance multi-level research on stress by demonstrating that shared stressors are contextual determinants of the CSE-performance relationship.