Appraisal Of Demands Research Articles

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The role of Growth-Oriented Leadership in Shaping Public Servants’ Work Experiences in the Post-NPM Environment

In recent years, growth-oriented leadership (GOL) has come to the fore as a salient predictor of positive employee outcomes in public sector contexts. This empirical paper examines the role of GOL in shaping perceptions of quantitative demands as a product of an evolved New Public Management (NPM) context and the subsequent impact on stress and well-being for 419 local government employees working in Western Australia. While latent in previous GOL-oriented studies, this paper is the first to explore the intersection of GOL and quantitative demands, noting that the former has an established positive effect on employee wellbeing, and the opposite case for the latter. Drawing on the challenge-hindrance framework, this article argues that GOL helps to shape employees’ primary appraisals of demands as challenges, rather than hindrances, in the post-NPM environment. The results indicate strong, direct negative relationships linking GOL with quantitative demands and stress, and a strong positive relationship between GOL and well-being. This study establishes GOL as a relevant capability for public leaders in supporting employees to deal effectively with public service demands and subsequently grow. Understanding how leadership capability, and particularly GOL, can shape the employee experience is important in ensuring the effective delivery of public services.

How do athletes perform well under pressure? A meta-study

ABSTRACT Many studies have explored athlete performance under pressure, with recent emphases on choking prevention and definitions of clutch performance. Whilst these two areas may benefit sport performance research, it may also be important to explore the prominent factors in facilitating athlete performance under pressure to promote the development of interventions targeting clutch performance in the future. In the present review, we synthesised qualitative research on athlete performance under pressure to highlight the psychological factors and strategies useful in facilitating performance under pressure in sport. Given the difficulties in reviewing and conducting quantitative research on these concepts (e.g. there currently is no validated measure of pressure), we chose to review qualitative research. Database searchers were conducted in September 2022, August 2023, and August 2024. This resulted in the identification and meta-synthesis of 29 articles reporting qualitative findings. Athletes, coaches, and sporting practitioners considered self-efficacy, demand appraisal, mental toughness, and task-focused resource allocation as important in facilitating athlete performance under pressure. Pre-performance routines, imagery techniques, self-talk, goal setting, cognitive restructuring, and simulated pressure training were also reported as useful strategies to facilitate athlete performance under pressure.

Teachers' psychological stress and wellbeing during a pandemic: Exploring latent profiles.

Teacher stress is at an all-time high. The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for teachers, which resulted in a record number of teachers intending to leave the classroom citing stress as a contributing factor. Understanding teachers' positive and negative psychological experiences, or well-being, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic will inform teacher wellness interventions intended to keep teachers in the classroom. Two hundred forty-six teachers from a suburban school district participated in a survey of well-being indicators, including affect, perceived stress, teaching self-efficacy, and preventive coping. A latent profile analysis identified four patterns of well-being: strained, resilient, lower teaching self-efficacy, and lower emotional well-being. While many teachers were resilient during the crisis, approximately two-thirds experienced global or isolated areas of strain. Additionally, the Classroom Appraisal of Resources and Demands-Revised, a theory-driven assessment of teachers' workplace appraisal of demands and resources, was associated with teachers' strained and resilient well-being profiles, making it a suitable screening tool for these groups. Layered screening and tailored intervention, based on teachers' well-being patterns, may help minimize teacher attrition during and postcrises. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Profiles of resilient psychosocial function during three isolated ski expeditions in the High Arctic.

To successfully complete a Polar expedition individuals and teams must respond resiliently to the environmental, psychological, and social demands they face. In this study we examined profiles of resilient function in seven people from three expeditions in the High Arctic. Using a structured daily diary, participants reported on experiences of physical health (morning and evening), affect, team cohesion, performance, and potential explanatory factors including sleep, demand appraisals, events, and coping strategies. Notable intra- and inter-individual variability was observed in daily reports and all profiles could be interpreted as representing resilient function. A number of significant relationships were found between markers of resilient physical and psychosocial function and potential explanatory variables. For example, there was much more daily variability in an individual's reporting of positive affect than prior research might imply, and what prior research designs could capture. Further, while negative affect tended to remain low and stable, our findings reveal that even minor and infrequent increases in negative emotions were significantly associated with other variables in the network. Finally, across the expedition period individual coping resources consistently exceeded demands, suggesting that individuals viewed the expedition as a challenge and not a threat. More broadly, these findings inform efforts to monitor, and maintain resilience when operating in Polar and other extreme settings.

Beginning Teacher Mentoring: Associations between Mentoring Experiences and Stress among First Year Teachers

Supporting and retaining U.S. K-12 beginning teachers remains a problem and has been linked to early career stress. Although teacher induction programs for beginning teachers have flourished in recent decades, beginning teacher stress persists and can undermine their occupational health. Teacher mentoring has been identified as an important way to support beginning teachers. To add to the literature in this area, the present study examines associations between mentoring experiences and first-year teacher stress. Using 1,980 responses to the 2007-08 Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Survey, scale scores were created for teacher appraisals of demands and resources and mentoring frequency and helpfulness. Teachers who identified classroom demands as exceeding resources (32.8%) reported significantly fewer (d = .20) and less helpful mentoring experiences (d = .19) than teachers rating demands and resources as equal. Teachers with higher resources than demands (21.9%) reported significantly greater (d = .20) and more helpful mentoring experiences (d = 0.32).

Integrating appraisal processes in the study demands-resources framework – a diary study

ABSTRACT Background and Objectives: Students face various demands that can lead to health complaints. Hindering demands appear to be especially harmful. Since the perception of demands differs between persons, their individual appraisal determines stress perception. However, individual appraisal processes are largely neglected in research. Therefore, this study builds on the study demands-resources model in examining the dynamics of students’ demand-appraisal processes and their effects on well-being. Design: During ten days in a four-week period, 247 students participated in a diary study. Methods: We analyzed our data via multilevel path analysis. Results: Our analyses revealed that the student’s appraisal of the same demands varied across days and depended on available resources, i.e., the received support quality on the respective day. Appraising demands as hindering was positively linked to the perception of stress on the same day. Daily perception of stress was positively linked to person-level strain and health complaints after four weeks. Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of assessing the individual appraisal of demands rather than pre-categorizing demands. Furthermore, our findings identify social support as a crucial resource in reducing hindering appraisal; hence, it should be included in student-focused stress-management interventions. Limitations and further implications are also discussed.

Adapting, adopting, and advancing change: A framework for future research in the psychology of occupational safety

Introduction: While there are numerous reviews of the research on the psychology of occupational safety, these studies provide weak guidance on where the research should go next. Accordingly, we introduce a simple framework for thinking about future research in this area: the adapting, adopting, and advancing change framework. This framework summarizes how external, technological, and theoretical developments have driven research in the psychology of occupational safety and uses these observations as evidence to imagine ways in which they may continue to do so. Method: We critically reviewed seminal research in the psychology of occupational safety using the adapting, adopting, and advancing change framework. Adapting to change means considering external changes such as the fluctuating nature of work and the labor market. Adopting change refers to incorporating the latest technological and technical advances to facilitate more robust research methods and analyses. Finally, advancing change refers to theoretical advances and how they will push psychology of occupational safety research forward. Results: We highlight several avenues for future research that emerge at the convergence of the framework’s three themes, including developing the safety skill construct, assessing variation in demand appraisals on safety outcomes, distinguishing safety climate from related constructs, and examining safety constructs that are usually considered as outcomes (e.g., injuries) as predictors instead. Conclusions: In doing so, we provide a clear structure to help researchers better identify the most effective directions for future research on the psychology of occupational safety.

Today's challenge may be tomorrow's hindrance (and vice versa): Longitudinal changes in employee’s appraisals of job demands and their outcomes

Researchers have long been interested in understanding how appraisals influence stressor–outcome relationships. Most studies in this area employ a variable‐centred approach, which ignores the possibility that there may be subpopulations of employees who differ in the combined use of challenge and hindrance appraisals. Building on transactional stress theory, we investigated (a) the potential existence of distinct latent appraisals profiles of job demands (i.e. time urgency, role conflict and emotional demands), (b) the outcomes associated with particular appraisal profiles and (c) the stability of these profiles over time. In a two‐wave study with a one‐year time interval (T1, N = 535, T2, N = 152) among Chinese workers, we identified three distinct appraisals profiles in both study waves (i.e. ‘positivists’, ‘negativists’ and ‘indifferent workers’). The positivists reported the highest levels of engagement, job satisfaction and the lowest levels of burnout. Interestingly, most participants appeared to change their appraisal profile over time (i.e. very often from ‘negativist’ and ‘positivist’ to ‘indifferent worker’, while they were less likely to change their appraisal profile to ‘positivist’). Furthermore, job demands influenced employees' appraisal profiles. Taken together, our results shed light on the nature of the appraisal of demands in the work context and how different employees use distinct combinations of appraisal to address their work demands.Practitioner points Managers should be aware that there are subgroups of employees that appraise their job demands differently: positivists, negativists and indifferent workers. Positivists tend to have higher well‐being than negativists and indifferent workers. Employees appear to change their appraisals of job demands over time. In particular, positivists tend to become indifferent workers. It is important that organizations provide sufficient resources and support to their employees to promote high challenge appraisals.

Here, There, and Everywhere: Applying Vignettes to Investigate Appraisals of Job Demands

The job characteristics literature has revealed that job demands can be differentiated into hindrance and challenge demands. However, there has been little consensus on this categorization. Additionally, studies have revealed that job demands can be perceived as hindering and challenging at the same time. The present study aims to bring nuance to this topic by investigating two job demands (i.e., time pressure and emotionally demanding situations) and to what degree they are appraised as challenging and hindering for two occupational groups (i.e., nurses and real estate agents). This study also investigates the impact of emotional dispositions on demand appraisals. A convenience sample (N = 851 Norwegian students) read vignettes and reported their appraisals for six different job situations. A factor analysis revealed that our measures of demand appraisals differed from those reported in previous studies. We therefore labeled the two kinds of appraisals as hindrance-like and challenge-like since they overlap without being identical to the previously reported labels of hindrance and challenge, respectively. Furthermore, we found that job demands were appraised as hindrance-like and challenge-like at the same time but to different degrees. Job demands for core tasks were typically appraised as more challenge-like than hindrance-like. Job demands for non-core tasks were typically appraised as more hindrance-like than challenge-like. Positive trait emotions predicted challenge-like appraisals. By documenting how imagined job demands appear as hindrances and challenges, our study supports previous studies showing that challenge-like demands may play a role in the motivational process in the job demands–resources model. Limitations to vignette studies are discussed.

Cognitive theory of stress and farmers’ responses to the COVID 19 shock; a model to assess coping behaviors with stress among farmers in southern Iran

Better understanding the capacity of farmers to react to the COVID-19 pandemic shock requires analyzing their coping mechanisms. This study investigates the relationship between coping style and coping behaviors with COVID-19, identifying the psychological factors affecting them based on the cognitive theory of stress. Perceived government support is added to the original model as a predictor for coping style and behavior. Cross sectional survey data was collected among farmers living in Dashtestan county of Bushehr province in southern Iran (N = 377). To determine the strength of the model, structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed. We find that demand appraisal and perceived collective efficacy have a positive, direct, and significant effect on coping style and an indirect effect on behaviors. Coping style and perceived government support are significantly related to behavior. The research model predicts 63% and 31% of variance changes in coping style and behavior, respectively. The results of this study provide empirical evidence on how people cope with the COVID-19 shock as well as useful information for designing and implementing health and social programs and policies in the agricultural communities.

Understanding business owners' challenge and hindrance appraisals

PurposeThe aim is to expand the challenge-hindrance framework and develop a coherent theoretical framework that explains individual differences in the way small business owners appraise their job demands. Literature has shown that dealing effectively with job demands leads to competitive advantage and depends on individual appraisals.Design/methodology/approachFor this qualitative study, 20 in-depth interviews were analyzed using a partially grounded theory approach.FindingsOpen and axial coding revealed a broader range of demands than have hitherto been studied, related to actions rather than job characteristics. Selective coding confirmed expectations based on the Conservation of Resources Theory that appraisals of demands differ between business owners and change over time depending on role identities, and material, social, personal and energy resource levels, via the valence (identities) and degree of anticipated outcomes. Business owners appraised certain demands as challenging when they were co-occurring with other demands usually categorized as challenges, whereas these same demands were appraised as hindering when co-occurring with demands usually categorized as hindrances.Research limitations/implicationsThe results imply that appraisals can be influenced by societal context, life events, processes of formal and informal learning, personal growth and aging. These topics would be interesting avenues for future research.Originality/valueThe results of this study challenge our understanding of job demands in general and current categorizations of job demands as challenges versus hindrances in specific, by providing an in-depth, contextualized and dynamic view of the appraisal of demands related to owning and running a business.

Achievement goal theory-based psychological skills training session buffers youth athletes’ psychophysiological responses to performance stress

The purpose of this research was to investigate whether an achievement goal theory-based psychological skills training (PST) session would procure protective responses to performance stress in youth athletes. High school sport teams (N = 72 athletes, Mage = 16.08, sd = 1.17) were randomly assigned to either a control group that learned about sport psychology history or a PST session aimed at fostering a greater task orientation and promoting the creation of a caring, task-involving climate among the athletes. Cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were measured prior to (t = - 50 and 0 min) and following (t = +30, +45, +60 min) a 30-min instructional juggling session with an ego-involving climate (i.e., the performance stressor), along with psychological stress and motivational responses. The PST session helped buffer maladaptive stress responses of participating athletes, with the control group responding with a spike in salivary cortisol and DHEA and reporting more shame, humiliation, cognitive and somatic anxiety, negative affect, demand appraisals, and that they had less control over their own success during the stressor than the athletes in the PST group. The cortisol and DHEA levels of the PST group did not change relative to baseline, and they reported greater social and performance self-esteem. There was a pattern of male athletes responding more adaptively to performance stress than female athletes. Potential explanations and ways to prevent such discrepancies are discussed. These findings suggest achievement goal theory is a fitting framework to work from when seeking to help youth thrive in performance contexts.

Explaining farmers’ response to climate change-induced water stress through cognitive theory of stress: an Iranian perspective

This study investigates the underlying causes of farmers’ adaptation responses in the face of the negative impacts of climate change on water resources in Iran. We applied the theory of cognitive stress to examine and clarify how farmers respond to climate change-induced water stress as an environmental stressor, using a multistage, clustered, random sampling method of farmers (n = 250) in a survey conducted in southwestern Iran. Our analyses revealed that both demand appraisal and self-efficacy are significant predictors of problem-focused coping, which, in turn, influenced farmers’ adaptation responses. The theory accounted for 31% of the variance in farmers’ problem-focused coping behavior, which, in turn, accounts for around 39% of the variance in adaptation responses. We anticipate that the findings will result in recommendations for policymakers and advisors to extension organizations and that it will ultimately be used to inform strategies to encourage effective adaptation responses to water scarcity among Iranian farmers.

Thriving on demand: Challenging work results in employee flourishing through appraisals and resources.

Resources theories of occupational stress (e.g., conservation of resources theory) argue that job demands deplete employees’ resources, and the challenge–hindrance model of occupational stress proposes that some demands tend to be appraised by employees more as challenges and others more as hindrances. Focusing on challenge demands, we propose and test a model in which work demands influence two resources (employees’ sense of self-worth and work meaningfulness) via appraisal processes, and the resources subsequently contribute to employees’ flourishing in their lives. Data were collected from U.S. employees at two separate points with a 1-month interval. Challenge appraisals of demands had positive effects on the two motivational resources, organization-based self-esteem and perceptions of meaningful work, and hindrance appraisals had negative effects on them. The findings suggest adapting conservation of resources theory to add appraisals as mediators between demands and resources. Overall, the present study shows a spillover effect and extends well-being research by providing evidence that resources created by positive organizational experiences contributed to promoting general positive well-being in employees’ lives in the form of flourishing.

An Empirical Study of Social Network Activities via Social Internet of Things (SIoT)

Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging trend referring to an interconnected network of ubiquitous intelligence. It is a revolution for Internet, computing and communication. Further extensions of IoT, Social Internet of Things (SIoT) provides a platform for people posting messages and photos, sharing knowledge, and connecting with each other. It is effective and efficient for people to manage their interpersonal relations through SIoT, but produces stress and tension issue coincidentally. Therefore, this study explores how users share knowledge through assessment and response under stress cognition. Three demand appraisals and three coping strategies are proposed to discuss user’s behaviour on knowledge sharing, and Smart-PLS is used to test the conceptual framework. Results show that self-protection, anxiety, and avoidance increase when members of the community are threatened or injured. Nevertheless, members with high self-efficacy could reduce anxiety production and improve self-protection. Consequently, the purpose of knowledge sharing is achieved. This study discusses users’ psychological perspectives when participating in the SIoT. It provides a better understanding of the human activities on the Internet through the SIot. Meanwhile, further prediction of users’ behavior of knowledge sharing provides benefits and opportunities for businesses to establish their marketing strategy.

Stress vulnerability in the first year of teaching

ABSTRACT Stress is increasingly being linked to teacher turnover. This study examined 1,750 first-year U.S. public school teachers’ classroom-specific appraisals of demands and resources as indices of risk for stress, which was then used to predict their career trajectories in subsequent years. Data from the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative survey of U.S. teachers new to the profession in 2007–2008, tracked teacher mobility for five years. One overarching research question guided our study: Are teachers who appraise their overall classroom demands as exceeding classroom resources in their first year more likely to move schools or leave the profession in subsequent years? Using longitudinal weights, the results of bivariate and logistic regression analyses showed that group membership was associated with occupational mobility in subsequent years. These results provide evidence that new teachers’ risk for stress can be operationalized by comparing early-career teachers’ perceptions of classroom demands vis-à-vis classroom resources.

Author Reply: Arousal Reappraisal as an Affect Regulation Strategy.

The biopsychosocial (BPS) model of challenge and threat posits that resource and demand appraisals interact in situations of acute stress to determine affective responses, and concomitant physiological responses, motivation, and decisions/behaviors. Regulatory approaches that alter appraisals to regulate challenge and threat affective states have the potential to facilitate coping. This reply clarifies the conceptualization of one such regulatory approach, arousal (or stress) reappraisal, and suggests avenues for future research. However, it is important to note that arousal reappraisal (or any brief psychological intervention) is not a "silver bullet" for improving stress outcomes, nor should this strategy be expected to positively impact all individuals. More work is needed to better elucidate how psychological and biological stress processes interact to shape health.

How does emotional exhaustion influence work stress? Relationships between stressor appraisals, hedonic tone, and fatigue in nurses’ daily tasks: A longitudinal cohort study

BackgroundWork-related stress is a prevalent condition in the nursing profession, and its influence may vary according to changeable individual and situational factors. It is, therefore, important to investigate the real-time momentary changes in these factors and their relationship to emotional exhaustion experienced by nurses. ObjectivesWe aim to analyse how their perceptions of demand, control, effort and reward change according to the task performed through real-time assessment and interact with the emotional exhaustion level of ward nurses. DesignThe research design was longitudinal. MethodA three-level hierarchical model with a repeated measures design was used to assess the momentary self-reports of 96 hospital ward nurses, completed using a smartphone programmed with random alarms. ResultsFindings show that demand, effort, and control appraisals depend on the task performed. The task appraised as most demanding, effortful, and controllable was direct care. Reward appraisal depends on the task performed and personal variables, i.e. emotional exhaustion. The situations perceived as more rewarding were rest and direct care. Momentary hedonic tone can be explained by the task performed, demand, reward, emotional exhaustion and by the interaction between emotional exhaustion and demand appraisal. Momentary fatigue can be explained by the task performed, demand, reward, and the emotional exhaustion. ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance of using momentary measures to understand complex and changeable inter-relationships. While also clarifying the targets of intervention programmes aimed at preventing burnout within the nursing profession.

Linking Abusive Supervision to Employee Engagement and Exhaustion

ABSTRACTThis research extends the differentiated job demands–resource model by integrating the main propositions of the transactional theory of stress to examine how cognitive appraisal processes link employee perceptions of abusive supervision to engagement and exhaustion. Two studies were conducted using a broad sample of employees. Study 1 developed the abusive supervision demand appraisal measure (ABSDAM). Study 2 examined the role that challenge or hindrance demand appraisals play in employee reactions to perceptions of abusive supervision. Study 1 determined that the ABSDAM was a valid means to measure how employees appraise abusive supervision as a challenge and/or hindrance demand. Study 2 found that hindrance demand appraisals mediate the relationship between perceived abusive supervision and exhaustion, while challenge demand appraisals mediate the relationship between perceived abusive supervision and engagement. This study suggests that accounting for demand appraisal processes provides furthe...

Long-term Changes of Irrigation Water Requirement in the Context of Climatic Variability

The knowledge of exact amount of water required by different crops in a given set of climatological condition of a region is vital in planning and effective management of irrigation scheme, irrigation scheduling and so on. This paper proposes the effect of different climatological variables on reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and water uses in agriculture in the Seonath basin located in Chhattisgarh State. The study area has 24 meteorological stations. Results of analysis of annual temperature time series showed a rise of 0.9702 °C over a period of 51 years (1960–2010). The increasing trends in ETo were more pronounced. Annual analysis of the ETo series indicated an increasing trend in almost all the districts except Bilaspur district. The percentage change in annual ETo was maximum for Raipur (1.72%) and minimum for Bilaspur (–1.41%). The analysis of the impacts of meteorological variables on the trends of ETo revealed that the main driving force associated with the increasing trend of ETo in the Seonath river basin was temperature and relative humidity. Overall, the results of this study showed an increase in irrigation water requirement, because of projected increase/change in meteorological variables (viz., rainfall, Tmax and Tmin, relative humidity and wind speed). Therefore, changing irrigation demand appraisals presented in this paper would be useful for future irrigation management systems for the Seonath river basin.