Divergent outcomes of AI anxiety: A dual-pathway model of cognitive appraisal on learning behaviors among university students.

"Thinking forward" or "dwelling on worry": How AI awareness affects employee innovative performance via work rumination.

Threat or opportunity? Challenge vs hindrance appraisals of generative AI and self-regulated teaching among pre-service EFL teachers: A COR perspective.

When and how supervisor's negative gossip influence target's proactive and withdrawal behavior: A perspective of self-regulation at work.

Background/Objectives: Healthcare and human service organizations face mounting pressures to adapt to social and public health challenges while maintaining quality care. Innovative work behavior among healthcare and human service professionals is critical to organizational resilience. Prior research suggests that job autonomy fosters innovative work behavior, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. This study examined how cognitive appraisal, work engagement, and job burnout mediate the relationship between job autonomy and innovative work behavior. Methods: A non-experimental, cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 607 healthcare and human service professionals in the United States. Validated measures assessed job autonomy, cognitive appraisal, work engagement, job burnout, and innovative work behavior. Serial mediation analyses were performed using Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 6) with bootstrapping (n = 5000). Work innovation was included as a covariate to control for organizational climate effects. Results: Job autonomy was positively related to innovative work behavior, work engagement, and both challenge and hindrance appraisal. The direct relationship between job autonomy and job burnout was mixed, significant in the hindrance appraisal model but not in the challenge appraisal model. Mediation analyses revealed that challenge and hindrance appraisal significantly influenced the pathways from job autonomy to work engagement and job burnout, which in turn mediated the job autonomy-innovative work behavior relationship. Burnout had a significant negative effect on innovative work behavior, whereas engagement strengthened the positive relationship between job autonomy and innovative work behavior. The full model explained 65.12-67.73% of the variance in innovative work behavior. Conclusions: Job autonomy is a critical driver of innovative work behavior among healthcare and human service professionals, operating through appraisal, engagement, and burnout. Building on previous research, this study extends prior evidence by clarifying when autonomy enables professionals to thrive and innovate, and when it risks contributing to burnout. Findings underscore the importance of appraisal-based interventions and autonomy-supportive climates to sustain workforce well-being and organizational innovation.

The concept of Bottom-line mentality (BLM) has been increasingly emphasized in contemporary workplaces, often at the expense of other critical organizational priorities. However, its implications for employees have remained underexplored. This study, which investigates how supervisors’ BLM influences employees’ behaviors and perceptions in the workplace, underscores the need for a balanced approach to leadership. Using SmartPLS 4, survey data from 382 employees in Pakistan’s fast-moving consumer goods sector were analyzed. The results reveal that supervisor BLM is positively associated with employee incivility and negatively associated with employees’ goal progress. Furthermore, employees’ hindrance appraisals mediate the relationship between supervisor BLM and incivility, whereas challenge appraisals mediate the relationship between supervisor BLM and goal progress. This research extends the literature by clarifying how supervisors’ bottom-line focus shapes employee actions and work outcomes, and it highlights the importance of a balanced leadership approach. The findings suggest that although leaders may adopt a bottom-line mentality to enhance performance, its effectiveness depends on how employees interpret and respond. The study offers practical guidance for organizations seeking to strengthen feedback systems and reduce the negative effects of supervisory misconduct.

This study draws on cognitive appraisal theory to unpack the paradoxical effects of supervisors' negative family events on their engagement in family-supportive supervisor behaviors. We theorize that negative family events act as a double-edged sword: While such events may deplete personal resources, they may also trigger self-reflection and growth, depending on how supervisors regulate work-family demands. Specifically, we propose that supervisors' action regulation at the work-family interface moderates how these events are appraised-as either challenges that inspire efficacy and support or hindrances that undermine confidence. Across four time points, using matched data from 299 supervisor-follower dyads, we find that when action regulation is high, negative family events are associated with greater challenge appraisal, which sequentially boost work-family balance self-efficacy and ultimately family-supportive supervisor behaviors. In contrast, when action regulation is low, negative family events lead to hindrance appraisal, which do not predict self-efficacy or family-supportive supervisor behaviors. These findings illuminate the cognitive and motivational mechanisms through which family challenges can either activate or suppress leadership supportive behaviors, thereby advancing theorizing on the integration of nonwork experiences into leadership functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into workplaces is increasingly associated with changes in job design and with employees' efforts to adapt their work through job crafting. Evidence from the 15 included studies suggests that AI-related perceptions and cognitions, often broadly labeled as AI awareness in the literature, are not consistently directly associated with job crafting. Instead, the reviewed evidence suggests that their associations with job crafting are more consistently observed in conjunction with dual cognitive appraisal pathways. Challenge appraisals, in which AI is interpreted as an opportunity, are consistently linked to approach-oriented job crafting through mechanisms such as creative process engagement and harmonious work passion, whereas threat appraisals are associated with avoidance-oriented crafting through job insecurity and obsessive work passion. These patterns appear to vary depending on individual factors, such as AI-related knowledge and a positive stress mindset, as well as organizational conditions, including servant leadership and corporate social responsibility. Consequently, AI-related perceptions and cognitions cannot be regarded as uniformly beneficial or harmful; rather, their associations with job crafting depend on employees' appraisals, the specific ways these constructs are operationalized, and the surrounding organizational context. This systematic review aims to elucidate the cognitive appraisal mechanisms through which heterogeneous AI-related perceptions and cognitions, broadly grouped under the label of AI awareness in the literature, are associated with employee job crafting behaviors. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines across several major academic databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and PsycINFO. Empirical studies investigating the relationship between AI-related perceptions and cognitions, including AI exposure, perceived AI threat or opportunity, and AI-related knowledge, and job crafting among employee populations were included. Data were extracted and synthesized narratively to identify mediating mechanisms and potential moderating factors. Evidence from the reviewed studies indicates that the various AI-related constructs broadly grouped under the label of AI awareness do not demonstrate consistent direct associations with job crafting. Instead, the relationships between these heterogeneous AI-related constructs and job crafting appear to operate through dual cognitive appraisal pathways. Challenge appraisals, in which AI is interpreted as an opportunity, are consistently linked to approach-oriented job crafting, often accompanied by mechanisms such as engagement in creative processes and harmonious work passion. In contrast, threat or hindrance appraisals are associated with avoidance-oriented job crafting through factors including job insecurity and obsessive work passion. Importantly, these pathways are contingent upon individual-level factors (e.g., AI knowledge, positive stress mindset) and organizational-level factors (e.g., servant leadership, corporate social responsibility). The relationship between heterogeneous AI-related perceptions and cognitions, often broadly conceptualized as AI awareness, and job crafting appears to be contingent upon employees' cognitive appraisals of AI. To support more adaptive and approach-oriented forms of job crafting in AI-enabled workplaces, organizations may benefit from cultivating work environments that are conducive to challenge appraisals, for example through supportive leadership, opportunities for knowledge development, and meaningful work design.

Purpose The integration of service robot in the hospitality industry has generated mixed employee reactions, yet the current literature provides limited guidance on managing human−robot interactions. Drawing on the transactional model of stress and coping, this study aims to investigate how two types of introduction approaches − employee-focused versus business-focused − affect employees’ collaboration and complaint intentions, mediated by their challenge and hindrance appraisals. Additionally, the study examines the moderating role of employees’ organizational identity, as a coping resource, in influencing these indirect effects. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted two online experiments to address the research questions. The first experiment assessed whether an employee-focused (vs business-focused) introduction of service robots enhances employees’ collaboration intention and reduces their complaint intention. The second experiment investigated whether challenge and hindrance appraisals mediate the effects of introduction focus on employee responses, and it also explored whether organizational identity moderates these mediated effects. Findings An employee-focused (vs business-focused) introduction promotes employees’ collaboration intention and reduces their complaint intention. These effects are only mediated by hindrance appraisals. Furthermore, organizational identity moderates these indirect effects, such that the differences between introduction foci exist only among employees with low organizational identity. Practical implications This paper identifies two strategies of introducing robots to employees. The study further examined the underlying mechanisms − specifically, hindrance appraisal − and identified organizational identity as a boundary condition in these processes. The findings offer practical guidance for managers on introducing service robots and shaping employee responses. Originality/value This research extends the service robot literature by examining how introduction strategies influence employee appraisals and behaviors. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first empirical studies to explore organizational identity as a coping resource in human–robot interactions.

Introduction We examine the effect of general challenge or hindrance appraisal tendencies and variability therein on the relationship between weekly time pressure with work engagement and irritation. According to appraisal theory, we suggest that general challenge or hindrance appraisals and the time dynamic of the appraisal (stability vs. variability) affect the stress response to weekly time pressure. Method In a multilevel analysis of a 5-week weekly diary study ( N = 277) we calculated the moderation effect of the mean and standard deviation of challenge and hindrance appraisal on the weekly relationship between time pressure with work engagement and strain. Results General hindrance appraisal moderated the effect of time pressure on vigor and absorption. The relationship was positive (/non-significant) if hindrance appraisal was low (/high) for absorption. We only found significant three-way interactions for hindrance appraisal with vigor, dedication, and cognitive irritation as outcomes. A low variability of general high hindrance appraisal reduced the moderation effect of general hindrance appraisal on the relationship between time pressure and work engagement/strain. Discussion We conclude that there is an adaptation effect which can be eliminated by a high variability of hindrance appraisal.

Illegitimate tasks are work assignments perceived as unreasonable or unnecessary. Such tasks fall outside the boundaries of duties considered appropriate for a given professional role. Illegitimate tasks are a widespread issue in the health care sector. Literature has largely emphasized the negative outcomes of illegitimate tasks. However, we suggest that the consequences of illegitimate tasks might not always be uniformly negative but could be paradoxical, depending upon the appraisal mechanisms. Using the lens of the transactional model of stress and coping, we suggest that when individuals appraise illegitimate tasks as challenges, it is associated with positive outcomes like employee resilience. However, if they appraise illegitimate tasks as hindrances, it is associated with negative outcomes like the intention to quit. The study was conducted using a time-lagged survey of 207 nurses in the health care sector in India, where illegitimate tasks are highly prominent. Illegitimate tasks were positively associated with challenge and hindrance appraisals. The appraisal mechanisms mediated the relationship between illegitimate tasks and employee outcomes (employee resilience and intention to quit). Individuals with higher calling orientation were less likely to perceive illegitimate tasks as hindrances. Organizations should ensure that illegitimate tasks are appraised as challenges rather than hindrances through workload and stress management techniques.

Purpose This study constructs a double-path chain mediation model and explores the double-edged sword effect of leader digital competence on employees' proactive innovative behaviors. Design/methodology/approach Hierarchical regression methodology is used to analyze two-stage questionnaire survey data from 303 employees. Findings Leader digital competence has a positive impact on employees’ proactive innovative behaviors through challenge appraisal and thriving at work but a negative impact through hindrance appraisal and work alienation. Growth need strength moderates these relationships. Originality/value This study explores the influence mechanism of leader digital competence on employees’ proactive innovation behavior, breaks through the limitation of a single perspective that only focuses on its positive effects and provides a more comprehensive and dialectical perspective for relevant studies on leader digital competence.

This study examines the dynamic interplay between workplace stressors, appraisals, and their affective outcomes through a daily diary design. Grounded in the Challenge-Hindrance Stressor Framework (CHSF) and Transactional Theory of Stress, four stressors-role conflict, role overload, emotional demands, and workload-were evaluated for dual appraisals as challenges and hindrances. Our investigation expands these models by assessing how the same stressors can simultaneously elicit both challenge and hindrance appraisals at both within- and between-person levels. Results reveal that all stressors were appraised as both challenges and hindrances, challenging CHSF's binary classification. Furthermore, both appraisal types mediated relationships with affective outcomes, with significant mediation observed for negative affect but not positive affect. Challenge appraisals were unexpectedly linked to increased negative affect, highlighting the complex consequences of stressors. The findings underscore the need for more nuanced and dynamic models that integrate stressor appraisals and their proximal affective outcomes, advancing theoretical frameworks in occupational stress research.

Emergency nurses are particularly vulnerable to burnout (a state of extreme tiredness, reduced ability to regulate cognitive and emotional processes, and mental distancing) with far-reaching consequences for individuals, healthcare systems, and society. Working in high-pressure environments marked by traumatic events, intense workloads, irregular shifts, and emotionally charged encounters, emergency nurses must sustain their performance and well-being amid growing job insecurity. This study examined the roles of work capabilities (enabled and achieved work values), burnout, work engagement, and job insecurity appraisals (as either a hindrance or a challenge) in shaping emergency nurses’ sustainable employability. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey design was used, and data were collected via convenience sampling from 204 emergency nurses across 13 hospitals in South Africa. Structural equation modeling, latent profile analysis, and Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars analysis were employed to examine associations, subpopulations, and profile differences. Findings indicated that appraising job insecurity as a challenge positively affected emergency nurses’ capabilities and engagement, while hindrance appraisals were associated with elevated levels of mental distance, cognitive impairment, and emotional impairment. Capabilities were negatively associated with exhaustion and mental distance, and positively associated with engagement. Latent profile analysis identified four distinct burnout and engagement profiles: moderately burned-out (35%), slightly disengaged (38%), healthy engaged (15%), and burned-out (12%). Emergency nurses in the moderately burned-out profile reported significantly lower challenge appraisals than those in the slightly disengaged group. Additionally, the burned-out and moderately burned-out groups reported lower capability scores than the slightly disengaged and healthy engaged profiles, with the healthy engaged group reporting the highest scores overall. These findings underscore the importance of interventions that build work capabilities and support adaptive interpretations of job insecurity. Such efforts are critical for reducing burnout, enhancing engagement, and promoting the sustainable employability of emergency nurses.

While previous research has examined the role of team resources on team resilience from a resource-based perspective, the underlying mechanisms of team resilience emergence from a process perspective remain insufficiently discussed. Drawing on team stress appraisal theory, we explore the mechanism through which team job insecurity influences team resilience and the contextual effects of team task characteristics. Through a three-wave questionnaire conducted with 464 employees from 96 teams, we found that team job insecurity was positively related to team challenge appraisal, which in turn was positively related to team resilience. Meanwhile, team job insecurity was positively related to team hindrance appraisal, which in turn was negatively related to team resilience. Furthermore, ream task interdependence reinforced the positive effect of team job insecurity on team resilience via challenge appraisal, while weakening the negative effect of team job insecurity on team resilience via hindrance appraisal. Both theoretical and practical contributions were discussed.

The hospitality sector is undergoing a rapid digital change due to smart technology and artificial intelligence. This presents both possibilities and problems for the development of sustainable innovation. Yet, little is known about how leaders’ technological competencies affect employees’ capacity to engage in environmentally responsible innovation. This study addresses this gap by examining how leaders’ competencies in smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and algorithms (STARA) shape employees’ green innovative behavior in hotels. Anchored in person–job fit theory and cognitive appraisal theory, we propose that when employees perceive a strong alignment between their skills and the technological demands introduced by STARA, they are more likely to appraise such technologies as opportunities (challenge appraisals) rather than threats (hindrance appraisals). These appraisals, in turn, mediate the link between leadership and green innovation. Convenience sampling was used to gather data from staff members at five-star, ecologically certified hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. According to structural equation modeling using SmartPLS, employees’ green innovation behaviors are improved by leaders’ STARA abilities. Crucially, staff members who viewed STARA technologies as challenges (i.e., chances for learning and development) converted leadership skills into more robust green innovation results. Conversely, employees who perceived these technologies as obstacles, such as burdens or threats, diminished this beneficial effect and decreased their desire to participate in green innovation. These findings highlight that the way employees cognitively evaluate technological change determines whether leadership efforts foster or obstruct sustainable innovation in hotels.

While prior research often highlights the performance-inhibiting effects of situational constraints, this study adopts transactional theory to examine how their impact is shaped by individual perceptions. Using paired data from 71 team leaders and 369 team members, this study explores the mechanisms through which situational constraints influence work engagement. The findings reveal that situational constraints are not inherently detrimental. When employees perceive these constraints as challenges, their work engagement is positively stimulated. Conversely, when constraints are appraised as threats, they hinder employees from fully committing to their tasks. In the absence of such appraisal, situational constraints did not significantly affect work engagement. Additionally, a growth mindset at both the individual and team levels was found to moderate the indirect effect of situational constraints on work engagement through hindrance appraisals. A strong growth mindset buffers the negative impact of constraints, reducing the likelihood of threat appraisal. This study highlights the dual effects of situational constraints on work engagement and offers practical insights into creating organizational contexts that cultivate a growth mindset, enabling employees to approach stressors with shared optimism and adaptability.

Despite being one of the most prevalent stress models in the organisational psychology and management literature, the challenge-hindrance stress model has come under criticism for inconsistent results. The current study seeks to investigate the role of stressor appraisals as a boundary condition of challenge and hindrance stressors in predicting employee engagement and exhaustion, strengthening the foundation of the model, and offering a potential explanation for previous mixed findings. Building on existing literature, we also probe the mediating role of engagement in the challenge stressors-job satisfaction relationship, Additionally, we explore whether exhaustion serves as a mechanism in the hindrance stressors and turnover intentions link. Using a daily diary design, workers from Amazon's Mechanical Turk completed two surveys per day for 10 weekdays (Level-1N=1344 observations; Level-2N=164 participants). Results indicated that challenge and hindrance appraisals of both challenge and hindrance stressors moderated the effects on engagement and exhaustion. Additionally, while engagement was found to mediate the effects of challenge stressors on job satisfaction, exhaustion did not mediate the relationship between hindrance stressors and turnover intentions. These findings highlight the need for stressor appraisal integration into the challenge-hindrance model and offer insights relating to employee stress management.

This study examines the impact of Supervisor Bottom-Line Mentality (SBLM) on employees' subjective employee career subjective success, focusing on the roles of hindrance appraisal and mindfulness within the social cognitive theory framework. Data was collected through a survey of 210 employees from the it sector in Islamabad and analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that SBLM is significantly and negatively related to employee career success (β = –0.33, p < 0.001), and this relationship is mediated by hindrance appraisal (β = –0.18, p < 0.001), meaning that supervisors who focus only on bottom-line outcomes increase employees' perceptions of workplace obstacles, which lowers their sense of career achievement. Furthermore, mindfulness was found to moderate the effect of hindrance appraisal, such that employees with higher mindfulness experienced a weaker negative impact on their career success (β = 0.22, p < 0.001). These results highlight that while SBLM can reduce employees' feelings of employee career subjective success by increasing workplace hindrances, mindfulness can serve as a protective factor. It is recommended that organisations support employees by encouraging mindfulness and shifting the focus away from performance results.

This research investigates the impact of employee adaptation to STARA (Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Algorithm) on service performance, considering the mediating roles of job crafting, job insecurity, and work engagement. Employing an explanatory quantitative approach with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), data were collected from 249 frontline employees in Jabodetabek who interact with customers and utilize STARA in their work. The results reveal that STARA awareness as a challenge appraisal positively influences service performance, whereas hindrance appraisal has a negative effect. Work engagement and job crafting significantly mediate the positive relationship between challenge appraisal and service performance, while job insecurity exacerbates the negative impact of hindrance appraisal. The study offers theoretical contributions by clarifying adaptive mechanisms to STARA in the service sector. Practically, it suggests organizations enhance training and psychological support to boost work engagement, implement job crafting programs to reduce job insecurity, and adopt clear communication strategies to position STARA as an opportunity rather than a threat.