Hindrance Stressors Research Articles

High-performance work systems and employees’ outcomes in challenging contexts: the role of hindrance stressors

ABSTRACT This study aims to analyze the role of hindrance stressors in the relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and employees’ outcomes in challenging contexts. Thus, this paper studies the role of stressors in a situation of uncertainty, such as the one derived from the pandemic, and examines the mechanisms through which HPWS can improve employees’ satisfaction and reduce turnover intentions. Data were collected from 202 hotel employees on the island of Gran Canaria in 2021, and research hypotheses were tested with PLS-SEM. The study revealed that reducing hindrance stressors is an important mechanism through which HPWS improve job satisfaction and decrease turnover intentions. These findings emphasize the relevance of developing HPWS to cope with challenging situations, revert the Great Resignation and recover the tourism sector by valuing its workforce.

Relationship of challenge and hindrance stressors with turnover intention and employee’s creativity: The moderating role of emotional intelligence

The present research aimed to explore the direct relationship of challenge and hindrance stressors with turnover intention and employee creativity, moderated by emotional intelligence. This study has collected the data through questionnaires from two hundred and fifty (250) telecom sector employees of Islamabad. The data has been analyzed by regression and Cronbach’s Alpha. The findings demonstrated a significant negative relationship of challenge stressors with turnover intention and positive relationship of hindrance stressors with turnover intention. In addition, emotional intelligence moderated the direct relationship between challenge stressors and turnover intention. The study contributes to improving the work system by providing better understanding of emotional intelligence role in controlling the turnover intention.

An FsQCA Exploration of Multiple Paths to Sales Performance: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT Purpose Sales performance is one of the critical roles in boosting firm performance, making motivating salespeople a concern for many managers. However, few existing studies on sales performance improvement from the holistic perspective exist. Based on triadic reciprocal determinism, this paper explores the combinations of the factors that may influence sales performance. Methodology/approach Based on matching questionnaires from 154 salespeople and their supervisors, this paper employs fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to delve into the inherent complexity of factors influencing sales performance. Findings The results revealed that a combination of personal (family motivation, challenge stress and hindrance stress), behavioral (adaptive selling behavior) and environmental factors (organizational innovation climate and business environment) determine sales performance. Specifically, three paths lead to high sales performance, and one path leads to non-high sales performance. Significantly, the path with an organizational innovation climate can explain high sales performance more effectively than other paths. Research implications This paper makes a valuable contribution to the literature on B2B sales literature by exploring triadic reciprocal determinism. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fsQCA attempt to address sales performance based on Chinese samples. Practical implications This paper offers an essential basis for sales managers to plan sales strategies. The sales managers could refer to the three paths leading to high sales performance to achieve sales targets. Further, the one path leading to non-high sales performance should be avoided in strategy decision-making. Originality/value/contribution The paper examines different approaches to achieving high and non-high sales performance using the fsQCA method, which offers a unique and relevant perspective on B2B sales literature.

Financial stress and quit intention: the mediating role of entrepreneurs’ affective commitment

One primary reason why entrepreneurs abandon their entrepreneurial goals is due to pressing financial difficulties. In one experimental and two field studies, we investigated the relationship between entrepreneurs’ financial stress and their intention to quit their businesses. In line with the challenge–hindrance stressor (CHS) framework, all three studies showed a positive link between financial stress and quit intention, both concurrently and over time. Furthermore, drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), we found support for affective commitment (but not continuance commitment) to the entrepreneurial endeavors as a mediator of the relationship. The findings provide novel insights into financial stress as a relevant entrepreneurial hindrance stressor and the role of the emotional bond formed (and dissolved) between entrepreneurs and their jobs as the mediating mechanism. Practical suggestions include considering the affective commitment levels of entrepreneurs to enhance consultancy and decision-making in entrepreneurship.

THE INFLUENCE MECHANISM OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND WORK STRESS ON JOB BURNOUT OF COLLEGE TEACHERS

Based on the Social Support Theory and Person-Environment Fit Theory, this research takes university teachers as the research object and uses literature research, questionnaire surveys, data statistics, structural equations, and other research methods to explore the relationship between social support, work stress, job burnout, and the organizational culture of university teachers under the new situation of implementing the strategy of revitalizing the country through science and education and innovation-driven development strategies. And construct a model of the influencing factors of job burnout among university teachers. 
 The main research conclusions include: social support has a significant negative impact on job burnout, and the impact of organizational support on job burnout is greater than that of external support; work stress has a significant positive impact on job burnout, and hindrance stress has a greater impact on job burnout than challenging stress; social support has a significant negative impact on work stress; and work stress partially mediates the impact of social support on job burnout.

Quantifying Forced Citizenship Behaviors among Healthcare Professionals: Data-Driven Insights into Nurse Destructive Leadership Effects

Destructive leadership and its outcomes have emerged recently. It has gained much attention in recent decade as it challenges the organizations. Purpose of present study is to explore the destructive leadership as an antecedent for compulsory citizenship behavior and emotional exhaustion in presence of hindrance stress as a mediator. Its quantitative study combined with survey method for data collection. Questionnaires have been adopted and data were collected from healthcare employees (Nurses) working in public sector hospitals in Lahore about the leadership of head nurses. 250 questionnaires were distributed and received 170 valid responses. SPSS has been used for data analysis. Frequency, correlation, descriptive, regression and mediation analysis have been performed to obtain the results. Results highlighted that there is significant positive impact of destructive leadership on compulsory citizenship behavior and emotional exhaustion of employees. Further results also reported that hindrance stress is significant positive mediation between relationship of destructive leadership, compulsory citizenship behaviors and emotional exhaustion of employees. Conclusion, limitations and future directions are provided in later sections of study.

Factors influencing the thriving of emergency department nurses in China

IntroductionThriving is a positive feeling arising from nurses' work and is increasingly valued by managers. Given their demanding workloads and various duties, it is necessary to research the determinants of ED nurses' thriving. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing thriving and the mechanisms of interaction between the factors among ED nurses. Methods380 ED nurses from six tertiary hospitals in Shandong Province, China, participated in this cross-sectional study. The instruments used were the General Information Questionnaire, Challenge-Hindrance Stressors Scale, Psychological Detachment Scale, and Thriving at Work Scale. Data analysis methods included univariate analysis, Pearson correlation, PROCESS 4.0, and hierarchical multiple regression. ResultsWeekly working hours affected nurses' thriving. Challenge stressors and psychological detachment were positively related to thriving. Hindrance stressors had a negative link with thriving. Psychological detachment suppressed the relationship between challenge stressors and thriving; however, it mediated the relationship between hindrance stressors and thriving. ConclusionChallenge-hindrance stressors and psychological detachment are significant elements influencing ED nurses' thriving. Nursing administrators should help ED nurses properly address stressors with different attributes and adopt appropriate strategies to improve nurses' thriving by enhancing psychological detachment.

Impact of challenge and hindrance job stressors on informal safety communication of construction workers in China: the moderating role of co-worker relationship

PurposeJob stressors have a considerable influence on workplace safety behaviors. However, the findings from previous studies regarding the effect of different types of job stressors have been contradictory. This is attributable to, among other factors, the effectiveness of job stressors varying with occupations and contexts. This study examines the effects of challenge and hindrance stressors on construction workers' informal safety communication at different levels of coworker relationships.Design/methodology/approachA three-dimensional framework of informal safety communication is adopted, including self-needed, citizenship and participatory safety communication. Stepwise regression analysis is then performed using questionnaire survey data collected from 293 construction workers in the Chinese construction industry.FindingsThe results demonstrate that both challenge and hindrance stressors are negatively associated with self-needed and citizenship safety communication, whereas their relationships with participatory safety communication are not significant. Meanwhile, the mitigation effects of the coworker relationship (represented by trustworthiness and accessibility) on the above negative impacts vary with the communication forms. Higher trustworthiness and accessibility enable workers faced with challenge stressors to actively manage these challenges and engage in self-needed safety communication. Similarly, trustworthiness promotes workers' involvement in self-needed and citizenship safety communication in the face of hindrance stressors, but accessibility is only effective in facilitating self-needed safety communication.Originality/valueBy introducing the job demands-resources theory and distinguishing informal safety communication into three categories, this study explains the negative effects of challenge and hindrance job stressors in complex and variable construction contexts and provides additional clues to the current inconsistent findings regarding this framework. The diverse roles of challenge and hindrance job stressors also present strong evidence for the need to differentiate between the types of informal safe communication.

Sometimes here, sometimes there—Differential effects of social challenge and hindrance stressors depending on the work location

Sometimes here, sometimes there—Differential effects of social challenge and hindrance stressors depending on the work location

Is more always better? The influences of guanxi beliefs, participative decision-making and perceived organizational politics on HK and US nurses’ job satisfaction

PurposeDrawing on the challenge–hindrance stressor framework and the “too-much-of-a-good-thing” principle, this study examined the curvilinear effects of two emic social challenge stressors (guanxi beliefs and participative decision-making (PDM)) and the moderating effect of an etic social hindrance stressor (perceived organizational politics) on Hong Kong and United States nurses’ job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative survey method was implemented, with the data provided by 355 Hong Kong nurses and 116 United States nurses. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the degree of measurement equivalence across Hong Kong and US nurses. The proposed model and the research questions were tested using nonlinear structural equation modeling analyses.FindingsThe results show that while guanxi beliefs only showed an inverted U-shaped relation on Hong Kong nurses’ job satisfaction, PDM had an inverted U-shaped relation with both Hong Kong and United States nurses’ job satisfaction. The authors also found that Hong Kong nurses experienced the highest job satisfaction when their guanxi beliefs and perceived organization politics were both high.Research limitations/implicationsThe results add to the comprehension of the nuances of the often-held assumption of linearity in organizational sciences and support the speculation of social stressors-outcomes linkages.Practical implicationsManagers need to recognize that while the nurturing and development of effective relationships with employees via social interaction are important, managers also need to be aware that too much guanxi and PDM may lead employees to feel overwhelmed with expectations of reciprocity and reconciliation to such an extent that they suffer adverse outcomes and become dissatisfied with their jobs.Originality/valueFirst, the authors found that influences of guanxi beliefs and PDM are not purely linear and that previous research may have neglected the curvilinear nature of their influences on job satisfaction. Second, the authors echo researchers’ call to consider an organization’s political context to fully understand employees’ attitudes and reactions toward social interactions at work. Third, the authors examine boundary conditions of curvilinear relationships to understand the delicate dynamics.

Challenge-Hindrance Stressors and Academic Engagement Among Medical Postgraduates in China: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Improving academic engagement of medical postgraduates is crucial for enhancing the quality of learning and the development of medical education. Due to medical postgraduates face high levels of stress and rigorous demands, yet the mechanisms linking challenge-hindrance stressors to academic engagement in this context remain largely unexplored. This study aims to explore the comprehensive relationship between challenge-hindrance stressors and academic engagement among medical postgraduates in China. Data were collected from 437 medical postgraduates in China, to investigate their challenge-hindrance stressors, emotional exhaustion, learning, relaxation and academic engagement. Among these postgraduates, 40.3% were male and 59.7% were female, with the mean age of the participants being 25.71 years. Statistical procedures were conducted using Mplus 8.3, ensuring a robust analysis of the data collected. Our study showed that both challenge and hindrance stressors are significantly positively correlated with emotional exhaustion among Chinese medical postgraduates, and emotional exhaustion is negatively associated with academic engagement. Emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between challenge-hindrance stressors and academic engagement. Learning plays a protective role, moderating the challenge stressors and emotional exhaustion relationship and its indirect effect on academic engagement. However, relaxation was not identified as a significant moderating factor in this context. Our findings not only revealed emotional exhaustion as a potential mechanism underlying the relationship between challenge-hindrance stressors and academic engagement but also validated the moderating role of learning in mitigating the adverse effects of challenge stressors on emotional exhaustion and academic engagement among Chinese medical postgraduates. This comprehensive insight into the complex dynamics between different stressors and academic engagement provides both theoretical and empirical evidence for medical universities. It underscores the importance of interventions to enhance academic engagement in stressful environments and serves as a valuable reference for the development of reasonable assessment systems. These contributions are crucial for fostering a supportive educational atmosphere and promoting the well-being of medical postgraduates.

A Dynamic View of the Challenge-Hindrance Stressor Framework: a Meta-Analysis of Daily Diary Studies

Are some daily job stressors good for employees? The challenge-hindrance stressor framework (CHSF) attempts to shed light on this question by categorizing stressors according to their ability to facilitate (challenge stressors) or inhibit (hindrance stressors) growth and achievement. According to the CHSF, challenge stressors should be associated with increased performance, but also with increased strain which subsequently hurts performance. Conversely, hindrance stressors should be associated with reduced performance both directly and indirectly via strain. Prior meta-analytic investigations have focused on more stable job stressors (using cross-sectional or longitudinal primary studies), and found contradicting resulted in support of the CHSF predictions. In the current meta-analysis, we tested the validity of the CHSF using a more dynamic view of stressors, by applying it to short-term, daily experiences of stressors, strains, and performance outcomes. Results from 78 unique samples indicated that at the within-person level, hindrance stressors have both a direct and an indirect (via strain) short-term effect on performance. Challenge stressors have a positive direct effect on performance but a negative indirect effect via strain. Furthermore, we examined two performance indicators separately: task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). The results revealed that challenge stressors have a stronger positive association with OCB than with task performance. Hindrance stressors exhibited the opposite pattern, a stronger negative association with task performance than with OCB. The results of this study suggest that all daily stressors result in strain, which negatively relates to performance, though challenge stressors also have some positive effects on daily performance.

The moderating role of intrinsic religiosity in the relationship of stressors and job performance: Evidence from Indonesia

Job performance is the ability to complete work according to predetermined standards. Stressful conditions at work can make job performance worse. An individual’s intrinsic religiosity can weaken these stressful conditions. This study aims to empirically prove the influence of challenge and hindrance stressors on job performance and examine whether intrinsic religiosity can moderate this influence. This paper uses the method of administering online questionnaire surveys by distributing Google Form links to the eligible respondents without conducting the interview. It employs a non-probability sampling design with a purposive sampling method, in this case, judgment sampling. The criteria for selecting respondents are individuals who have the status of full-time employees and work in state-owned and private-owned organizations in the cities of Indonesia. This study proved all hypotheses. Higher challenge stressors result in higher job performance. At the same time, higher hindrance stressors result in lower job performance. Further, intrinsic religiosity weakens the positive influence of challenge stressors on job performance. Individuals who are always attached to God will use work as a means to please God. The characteristics of these individuals are having a positive mental attitude so that they are always ready and calm in facing various work situations and view work as a calling. Also, this study proves that the negative influence of hindrance stressors on job performance is weaker in people with intrinsic religiosity. Ambiguous job descriptions, conflicts, or excessive work are no longer burdensome. AcknowledgmentThis study is funded by the Faculty of Economics and Business, Pelita Harapan University, award number 023/P-ORP-FEB/I/2024.

To reflect or to detach after work? Relating interpersonal challenge and hindrance stressors to engagement and burnout.

To reflect or to detach after work? Relating interpersonal challenge and hindrance stressors to engagement and burnout.

Algorithmic control and gig workers’ facades of conformity: A work stress perspective

I examined the relationship between algorithmic control and gig workers’ facades of conformity by investigating the underlying mechanism. Drawing on the challenge???hindrance stress model, I explored the mediating role of challenge stress and hindrance stress in this relationship. Then, by using data collected from an online food delivery platform in China, I demonstrated that hindrance stress positively mediated the relationship between algorithmic control and facades of conformity, but the mediating effect of challenge stress was not significant. This study contributes to the emerging research field of algorithmic control by not only empirically examining its effect on gig workers’ psychological and behavioral outcomes, but also exploring the underlying mechanisms between algorithmic control and gig workers’ facades of conformity. It offers a reference point and guidance for managers of gig economy enterprises.

Workplace hurdles and innovative behavior: A meta-analysis

Many studies have assumed that workplace hurdles have uniform effects on innovative behavior and that motivational mechanisms are the key explanation. Guided by the conservation of resources theory, this study argues that different subgroups of workplace hurdles might relate to innovative behavior differently and that the mechanism underlying the relationship between workplace hurdles and innovative behavior can be informed by an organizational attachment perspective. Meta-analytical data from 544 samples (N = 188,572) showed that (a) social hurdles were more strongly and negatively related to innovative behavior than were task and organizational hurdles, (b) the absence of favorable conditions was more strongly and negatively related to innovative behavior than were proximal stressors, and (c) hindrance stressors were more strongly and negatively related to innovative behavior than were challenge stressors. The path analysis results also provide support for the proposed theoretical process: workplace hurdles weaken organizational attachment, which in turn lowers innovative behavior. Crucially, organizational attachment remained a significant mediator even when I controlled for the mediating effects of job and creative motivation. Moderator analyses showed that the study relationships were generally robust.

Operating Under Stress: An Experiential Exercise to Illustrate the Sources and Consequences of Work Stress

This experiential exercise is crafted around the classic board game Operation® (Hasbro 2008). Students are instructed that they are members of an emergency room team responsible for curing their patient of their ailments. However, unlike the board game, students in roles of doctors, nurses, and chief of surgery grapple with numerous sources of work-related challenge and hindrance stressors while trying to complete their job duties. In addition, participants are intermittently exposed to various types of work and non–work-related stressors throughout the exercise that cause interruptions to job fulfillment. These various conditions serve to illuminate the sources of job stress as well as the implications of both challenge and hindrance stressors on critical workplace outcomes, such as motivation, satisfaction, and workplace performance. This experiential exercise can be expanded to incorporate several organizational behavior topics, such as justice/fairness, leadership, teamwork, and work redesign.

Enterprise social media as enablers of employees' agility: the impact of work stress and enterprise social media visibility

PurposeAccording to extensive analysis, employee agility is influenced by teamwork, coordination and the organizational environment. However, less consideration has been given to the role of work stressors (challenge, hindrance) in influencing employee agility. To address this research gap, this study sheds light on how the use of enterprise social media (ESM) for social and work purposes influences employee agility through work stressors.Design/methodology/approachThis research also explores how ESM visibility enhances the interaction between work stressors and employee agility by using primary data obtained from Chinese workers. A total of 377 entries were analyzed using AMOS 24.10 tools. All the hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe findings revealed that ESM use (social and work) negatively impacts challenge and hindrance work stressors. The results also reflect that challenge stressors have a significant impact on employee agility, whereas hindrance stressors are negatively related to it. Furthermore, the outcome also indicated that increased ESM visibility reinforces the connection between challenge stressors and employee agility. However, ESM visibility did not indicate a significant moderating impact on the link between hindrance stressors and employee agility.Originality/valueThis study describes how ESM usage effects agility of stressed employees. This research also explores how ESM visibility improves the interaction between work stressors and employee agility. The study results contribute to growing research on social media and employee agility and suggest several points of guidance for managers.

Associations among Challenge Stress, Hindrance Stress, and Employees' Innovative Work Behavior: Mediation Effects of Thriving at Work and Emotional Exhaustion

ABSTRACTEmployees' innovative work behavior (IWB) is one of the key factors in improving organizational competitiveness. Previous studies show that challenge and hindrance stress can impact employees' IWB, but our understanding of the exact mechanism underlying the impact is still limited. The present study employed four scales (Challenge and Hindrance Stress Scale, Thriving at Work Scale, Chinese Emotional Exhaustion Scale, and Employee Innovative Behavior Scale) to collect questionnaire data from 789 employees in diverse organizations via an online platform. A two‐path mediation model was constructed. The results show that: (a) challenge stress positively predicted thriving at work and IWB; (b) thriving at work played a partial mediation effect between challenge stress and IWB; (c) hindrance stress negatively predicted thriving at work and positively predicted emotional exhaustion; and (4) hindrance stress did not directly impact IWB while thriving at work and emotional exhaustion were main mediators in the relationship between hindrance stress and IWB. These findings suggest that employees should sensibly cope with different work stresses, while managers should plan work tasks scientifically and give employees adequate opportunities to learn and rest in order to keep them in a positive state to solve problems and work creatively.

How Past Work Stressors Influence Psychological Well-Being in the Face of Current Adversity: Affective Reactivity to Adversity as an Explanatory Mechanism

This study advances the understanding of the mechanisms that link past challenge and hindrance stressors to resilience outcomes, as indicated by emotional and psychosomatic strain in the face of current adversity. Building on the propositions of Conservation of Resources Theory and applying them to the challenge-hindrance framework, we argue that challenge and hindrance stressors experienced in the past relate to different patterns of affective reactivity to current adversity, which in turn predict resilience outcomes. To test these assumptions, we collected data from 134 employees who provided information on work stressors between April 2018 and November 2019 (T0). During the first COVID-19 lockdown (March/April 2020), the same individuals participated in a weekly study over the course of 6 weeks (T1–T6). To test our assumptions, we combined the pre- and peri-pandemic data. We first conducted multilevel random slope analyses and extracted individual slopes indicating affective reactivity to COVID-19 adversity in positive and negative affect. Next, results of path analyses showed that past challenge stressors were associated with lower affective reactivity to COVID-19 adversity in positive affect, and in turn with lower levels of emotional and psychosomatic strain. Past hindrance stressors were associated with greater affective reactivity to COVID-19 adversity in positive and negative affect, and in turn to higher strain. Taken together, our study outlines that past work stressors may differentially affect employees’ reactivity and resilient outcomes in the face of current nonwork adversity. These spillover effects highlight the central role of work stressors in shaping employee resilience across contexts and domains.