Job-related Anxiety Research Articles

Running toward my challenges: Day-level effects of physical activity before work on appraisal of the upcoming workday and employee well-being.

Previous research has typically conceptualized physical activity as a recovery activity after work that promotes well-being by allowing employees to detach from work and replenish their resources. Here, we aimed to go beyond this framework by proposing a new theoretical model of how physical activity in the morning before work affects employee well-being. Drawing upon the transactional theory of stress, we theorized that physical activity before work shapes employees' appraisal of their upcoming workday which, in turn, affects their well-being. In a preregistered study (N = 269), we utilized a within-person daily experience sampling approach to test our model. Results showed that two types of appraisals are particularly important for explaining the effects of physical activity before work on employee well-being: First, challenge appraisal mediated the effects of physical activity before work on work engagement. Second, we found an indirect effect via threat appraisal of physical activity before work on job-related anxiety. Exploratorily, we found that threat appraisal also mediated the effect of physical activity before work on emotional exhaustion. In conclusion, our results show that physical activity before work is beneficially related to several types of well-being outcomes by increasing challenge appraisal and decreasing threat appraisal. Furthermore, our study advances theoretical understanding on physical activity and work stress by shedding light on the mechanisms underlying the effect of physical activity on employee well-being and showing that physical activity before work benefits well-being by shaping how employees appraise their work situation on a day-to-day basis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Neurogenic Background for Emotional Stress-Associated Hypertension.

The response to natural stressors involves both cardiac stimulation and vascular changes, primarily triggered by increases in sympathetic activity. These effects lead to immediate flow redistribution that provides metabolic support to priority target organs combined with other key physiological responses and cognitive strategies, against stressor challenges. This extremely well-orchestrated response that was developed over millions of years of evolution is presently being challenged, over a short period of time. In this short review, we discuss the neurogenic background for the origin of emotional stress-induced hypertension, focusing on sympathetic pathways from related findings in humans and animals. The urban environment offers a variety of psychological stressors. Real or anticipatory, emotional stressors may increase baseline sympathetic activity. From routine day-to-day traffic stress to job-related anxiety, chronic or abnormal increases in sympathetic activity caused by emotional stressors can lead to cardiovascular events, including cardiac arrhythmias, increases in blood pressureand even sudden death. Among the various alterations proposed, chronic stress could modify neuroglial circuits or compromise antioxidant systems that may alter the responsiveness of neurons to stressful stimuli. These phenomena lead to increases in sympathetic activity, hypertension and consequent cardiovascular diseases. The link between anxiety, emotional stress, and hypertension may result from an altered neuronal firing rate in central pathways controlling sympathetic activity. The participation of neuroglial and oxidative mechanisms in altered neuronal function is primarily involved in enhanced sympathetic outflow. The significance of the insular cortex-dorsomedial hypothalamic pathway in the evolution of enhanced overall sympathetic outflow is discussed.

Impact of a Perceived Threat of Terrorism on Job Performance: A Moderated-Mediated Model

This study explores the relationship between the threat of terrorism and the job performance of police employees. It also examines the potential mediating effect of jobrelated anxiety between the threat of terrorism to job performance relationship and the moderating effect of innovative work behaviour among Punjab Police personnel. Multisource (employee and respective supervisor), time-lagged data from 425 respondents, was collected, which shows that the threat of terrorism increases jobrelated anxiety of employees which in turn reduces job performance. Personnel's innovative work behaviour buffers the negative effect of perceived threats of terrorism on job-related anxiety, resultantly the relationship is mitigated for those who are innovative in their work behaviour and practices. In an external environment where terrorism presents a credible threat, organizations can, therefore, encourage employees to exercise innovative ways to enhance security provisions at different levels. The study results showed; a direct association between the perceived Threat of Terrorism (TOT) and Job-Related Anxiety (JRA). While an inverse relationship was emerged between Job-Related Anxiety and Job Performance (JP) and Innovative Work Behaviour (IWB) mitigated the positive relationship between the Perceived Threat of Terrorism and Job-Related Anxiety. Mediation role of Job-Related Anxiety between the perceived Threat of Terrorism and Job Performance was also explored. It shows that when employees feel a threat of terrorism, causes them to feel anxiety which curtails their performance of employees. However, innovative employees diffuse stress by coming up with novel solutions. Our study is limited due to the sample size. Other psychological reservoirs may also be incorporated in the same model to see the mitigating effect. However, managers may provide training interventions to help in developing innovative behaviour.

How emotional labor harms employee’s performance: unleashing the missing links through anxiety, quality of work-life and Islamic work ethic

Employing conservation of resources (COR) theory, this research examined how emotional labor influences employees’ job performance by testing a serial mediation moderation model. We propose job anxiety and quality of work-life (QoWL) as explanatory mechanisms in the emotional labor–job performance relationship, and Islamic work ethic as a coping mechanism between job-related anxiety and quality of work-life. To test our proposed hypotheses, the data was collected from 211 service sector supervisor-subordinate dyads in a three waved time-lagged study. Results elaborate that service employees who suffer from resource depletion due to emotional labor and job-related anxiety can still enjoy a better quality of work-life and deliver well at their workplace when they possess a stronger Islamic work ethic.

The Effect of Job-Related Anxiety as Well as Other Factors like Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Efficiency and Team Cooperativeness On-Team Creativity with Moderating Role of Organizational Culture

The Effect of Job-Related Anxiety as Well as Other Factors like Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Efficiency and Team Cooperativeness On-Team Creativity with Moderating Role of Organizational Culture

Employee-centric perspective on organizational crisis: how organizational transparency and support help to mitigate employees' uncertainty, negative emotions and job disengagement

PurposeThe study focuses on the negative implications that an organizational crisis can have for individual employees. Specifically, it considers job-related uncertainty, negative emotions (anxiety and frustration) and job disengagement. Through the lens of the social exchange theory, it is argued that internal crisis communication needs to provide sufficient socioemotional resources to their employees in order to mitigate these negative outcomes. In particular, the study argues for internal crisis communication that fosters organizational transparency and organizational support to achieve these mitigating effects.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey among employees in Austria was administered one year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic – this specific crisis context particularly evoked job-related uncertainty and negative emotions which are considered relevant drivers of job disengagement. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling based on a sample of N = 410.FindingsResults show that employees' perceptions of job-related uncertainty are strongly linked to job-related anxiety and frustration; job-related frustration, in turn, strongly influences job disengagement. Overall, employees' perceptions of organizational transparency and organizational support contribute both to prevent the risk of job disengagement; however, the processes how these effects evolve differ. Whereas organizational transparency works on the cognitive level via a reduction of employees' perceptions of uncertainty, organizational support shows its effect on the emotional level through a reduction of job frustration.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the scarce research on how internal crisis communication can address employees' uncertainty, negative emotions and job disengagement during a crisis. Moreover, despite the lack of organizational responsibility for creating the crisis, the study emphasizes organizational accountability to respond to the needs of its employees to mitigate negative effects.

Mystery of Leader-Follower Conflict Management Style: Whether Collaborative CMS Always Leads to Good

Recent theoretical work has developed theories regarding the relationship between conflict management styles (CMS) and employee emotional responses. This study extends the literature by exploring the psychological costs linked with enacting a certain CMS, especially collaborative CMS, since it is regarded as the most effective strategy when handling conflict. Rather than being examined in isolation, collaborative CMS of supervisors need to be considered as a boundary condition, exploring the distinct CMS-anxiety relation. Based on 571 employees in 84 work teams, we found support that when supervisor collaborative CMS is low, there is a curvilinear (U-shaped) relationship between employee collaborative CMS and job-related anxiety. We contend that job-related anxiety will reach the lowest level when members with a moderate level of collaborative CMS. However, when supervisor collaborative CMS is high, collaborative CMS is negatively correlated to job-related anxiety. Further, drawing upon conservation of resource theory, we hypothesize and test that job-related anxiety plays a role of mediator between employee collaborative CMS and subsequent deviant behavior (i.e., surface acting and work withdrawal). Our findings have crucial theoretical and practical implications for dispositional factors that shape individual emotions and facilitate negative outcomes in teams.

Evaluation of a Skills Enhancement Training Intervention With Remote Coaching for Young Adults Providing Peer Support.

This column reports on a study that investigated a skills enhancement and role clarification training intervention for young adult peer support specialists (YPSSs). Young adults who had received intensive mental health services—including young adults who had experience as YPSSs—were partners in developing the intervention and in completing all aspects of the study. Study participants were YPSSs who were already providing one-on-one, person-centered planning in community settings before the study. The results, based on YPSSs’ self-reports and rated video recordings of YPSSs’ practice, showed postintervention gains in participants’ skills and confidence in providing person-centered planning to the young people they worked with as well as reduced job-related anxiety and high training satisfaction.

The Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 on People with and without Severe Mental Illness in Tamil Nadu, India

Background/Objectives: People living with severe mental illness may be more susceptible to infection and stress, leading to relapses or worsening of their mental health. The experiences of people with severe mental illness during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have seldom been captured. This study set to describe the experience of people with severe mental illness in Tamil Nadu, India, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Between July and December 2020, 158 age-, gender-, neighborhood-matched case − control pairs from the INTREPID II study completed a survey regarding their experience, worries, and behavioral changes during the pandemic. Their responses were collected by phone during six-monthly check-ins, or in-person at 24-month follow-up appointments. Only the first response for each participant is included in this report. Results: None of our participants reported knowingly having been infected with COVID-19 by the time of the survey. There is no evidence that people with psychoses were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Unemployment and financial hardship were highly prevalent in both cases and controls. Job-related anxiety and stress were the largest source of worry, followed by worries regarding government decisions and access to mobile phones. Conclusions: The pandemic placed great strain on participants both with and without severe mental illness. The impact of unemployment and financial hardship as a result of COVID-19 requires urgent attention.

The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem and Job-Related Anxiety on the Emergence of Dysfunction in Vocational Mentoring and Its Effects on Performance Reports and Career Progress Expectations

We explore the role that self-esteem and job-related anxiety play in the emergence of dysfunctional (negative) relations in mentoring and its outcomes. A study with 189 proteges reported that functional vocational mentoring in a mentorship was negatively related to reports of dysfunction in vocational mentoring (DVM), however, this association became positive for individuals reporting low self-esteem. The relationship that DVM had with performance and career expectations was moderated by job-related anxiety –negative outcomes under high anxiety conditions and a positive outcome for performance under low anxiety. Thus, further work on the emergence and effects of dysfunction (negative) mentoring relations appears warranted.

How do employees appraise challenge and hindrance stressors? Uncovering the double-edged effect of conscientiousness.

The challenge-hindrance model deems primary appraisal the central mechanism underlying the effects of challenge and hindrance stressors on employee outcomes. However, the literature has reported conflicting findings on the relationships between challenge/hindrance stressors and challenge/hindrance appraisals. Drawing upon transactional theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), the current study aims to address these conflicting findings by investigating the moderating effect of conscientiousness on stressor-appraisal relationships. On this basis, we further demonstrate when challenge and hindrance appraisals mediate the effects of challenge and hindrance stressors on work motivation (i.e., work engagement) and job strain (i.e., job-related anxiety). We conducted two substudies to examine the research model at the between-person level (Study 1) and the within-person level (Study 2). The results of both studies were highly convergent. Challenge stressors were more positively related to both challenge and hindrance appraisals for employees high in conscientiousness. Hindrance stressors were also more positively related to hindrance appraisal for employees high in conscientiousness. By exacerbating the stressor-appraisal relationships, conscientiousness was found to strengthen the indirect relationship of challenge stressors with work engagement via challenge appraisal and the indirect relationships of challenge and hindrance stressors with job-related anxiety via hindrance appraisal. We conclude that conscientiousness functions as a double-edged sword in the process of making primary appraisals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The ugly side of job rotation

Abstract This study would examine the effect of job rotation on two common forms of hindrance stressors witnessed among tourism and hospitality employees namely role ambiguity and role conflict of employees on employees in hotel. Besides, this study will examine the impact of the mentioned hindrance stressors on several negative outcomes such as job-related anxiety, anger and sabotage behavior. Moreover, this inquiry further examined the mediation effect of hindrances stressor the relationship between job rotation and anger, job-related anxiety and sabotage behaviors. By applying judgmental sampling technique, data were collected from 193 frontline employees working in 17 five and four-star hotels in Tehran. The relationship between study constructs were tested through structural equation modeling. The findings of the study revealed that hindrance stressors mediate the relationship between job rotation, anger, anxiety and service sabotage.

Flexible working practices and job-related anxiety: Examining the roles of trust in management and job autonomy

Although flexible working practices (FWPs) have been associated with positive individual outcomes, less is known about ‘how’ and ‘why’ such associations occur. Drawing on Conservation of Resources theory, this study examines the mediating and moderating processes which underpin the relationship between FWPs and job-related anxiety. The study’s hypotheses, proposing a moderated mediation model, are tested using data from Britain’s Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) 2011. The results of generalised multilevel structural equation modelling (GMSEM) reveal that FWPs increase trust in management (TIM), which, in turn, decreases job-related anxiety. Furthermore, job autonomy moderates both the positive relationship between FWPs and TIM and the indirect relationship between FWPs and job anxiety through TIM, such that the mediated relationship becomes stronger when perceived autonomy is high. Our study encourages focusing on FWPs, as these stimulate perceptions of resource gain spiral, and the integrated influence of resources accumulated through such positive gain spirals promotes well-being.

Being a Psychotherapist in Times of the Novel Coronavirus Disease: Stress-Level, Job Anxiety, and Fear of Coronavirus Disease Infection in More Than 1,500 Psychotherapists in Austria.

This study investigated stress-level, degree of job-related anxiety, and fear of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection in psychotherapists in the early weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown in Austria. One thousand five hundred and forty-seven psychotherapists participated in an online survey, assessing stress [Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10)], work-related worries and fears of existence [Job Anxiety Scale (JAS)], fear of COVID-19 infection during face-to-face psychotherapy, and adherence to five protective measures against COVID-19 infection during face-to-face psychotherapy. Stress-levels were higher than in a representative sample (p < 0.001). When psychotherapy was the sole income, stress-level (p = 0.020) and job anxiety (p < 0.001) were higher. Experiences with teletherapy, the psychotherapy format used during COVID-19, as well as reductions in number of patients treated during COVID-19, had no effect on stress-level or job anxiety. Psychotherapists still conducting face-to-face psychotherapy during COVID-19 reported less fear of infection compared to those conducting no face-to-face psychotherapy (p < 0.001), whereby the fear of infection was further reduced when they were more able to adhere to protective measures against COVID-19 (p < 0.01). Mental hygiene is important for psychotherapists to manage stress and job-related anxiety during COVID-19, especially in those whose income relies on psychotherapy.

The Psychological Experience of Obstetric Patients and Health Care Workers after Implementation of Universal SARS-CoV-2 Testing.

Objective This study was aimed to describe the hospitalization and early postpartum psychological experience for asymptomatic obstetric patients tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) as part of a universal testing program and report the impact of this program on labor and delivery health care workers' job satisfaction and workplace anxiety. Study Design This is a cohort study of asymptomatic pregnant women who underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing between April 13, 2020 and April 26, 2020. Semistructured interviews were conducted via telephone at 1 and 2 weeks posthospitalization to assess maternal mental health. Depression screening was conducted using the patient health questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2). An online survey of labor and delivery health care workers assessed job satisfaction and job-related anxiety before and during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as employees' subjective experience with universal testing. Patient and employee responses were analyzed for recurring themes. Results A total of 318 asymptomatic women underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing during this 2-week period. Six of the eight women (75%) who tested positive reported negative in-hospital experiences secondary to perceived lack of provider and partner support and neonatal separation after birth. Among the 310 women who tested negative, 34.4% of multiparous women reported increased postpartum anxiety compared with their prior deliveries due to concerns about infectious exposure in the hospital and lack of social support. Only 27.6% of women, tested negative, found their test result to be reassuring. Job satisfaction and job-related anxiety among health care workers were negatively affected. Universal testing was viewed favorably by the majority of health care workers despite concerns about delays or alterations in patient care and maternal and neonatal separation. Conclusion Universal testing for SARS-CoV-2 in obstetric units has mixed effects on maternal mental health but is viewed favorably by labor and delivery employees. Ongoing evaluation of new testing protocols is paramount to balance staff and patient safety with quality and equality of care. Key Points Women with SARS-CoV-2 had a negative hospital experience.A negative SARS-CoV-2 test was not reassuring for patients.COVID-19 negatively impacts healthcare workers’ well-being.

But they promised! How psychological contracts influence the impact of felt violations on job-related anxiety and performance

PurposeThis study unpacks the relationship between violations of organizational promises, as perceived by employees and their job performance, considering the mediating effects of job-related anxiety and moderating effects of psychological contract type.Design/methodology/approachMulti-source, multi-wave data were collected from employees and their supervisors in Pakistan.FindingsFeelings of organizational betrayal may reduce job performance due to the higher anxiety that employees experience in their daily work. This mediating role of enhanced job-related anxiety in turn is stronger to the extent that employees believe that their psychological contract contains relational obligations but weaker when it contains transactional obligations.Practical implicationsThe study gives organizational decision makers pertinent insights into how they can mitigate the risk that employees who are angry about broken organizational promises stay away from performance-enhancing work activities, namely, by managing the expectations that come along with psychological contracts. In so doing, they can avoid imposing dual harms on employees, from both a sense that they have been betrayed and the risk of lower performance ratings.Originality/valueThis study offers expanded insights into the process that underpins the translation of psychological contract violations into diminished job performance, by pinpointing the simultaneous roles of experienced job-related anxiety and beliefs about employer obligations.

The relationship between workplace incivility and depersonalization towards co-workers: Roles of job-related anxiety, gender, and education

AbstractThis study contributes to management scholarship by unpacking the relationship between employees' exposure to workplace incivility and their exhibition of depersonalization towards co-workers, according to the mediating effect of job-related anxiety and the moderating effects of gender and education. Time-lagged data from employees in Pakistani organizations show that an important reason workplace incivility enhances depersonalization towards co-workers is that employees feel anxious about their jobs. This mediating role of job-related anxiety is particularly salient among male and higher-educated employees, possibly because they suffer from resource losses in the form of dignity threats when they are treated with disrespect. For organizations, this study accordingly pinpoints a key mechanism by which disrespectful workplace treatment can escalate into depersonalization towards co-workers (enhanced job-related feelings of anxiety), as well as how the strength of this mechanism might depend on individual factors.

How Workplace Bullying Jeopardizes Employees' Life Satisfaction: The Roles of Job Anxiety and Insomnia.

Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study examined the underlying mechanism through which workplace bullying (WB) affects employees’ life satisfaction via job-related anxiety and insomnia. Time-lagged data were collected at two points in time from 211 doctor interns working in various hospitals in Pakistan. Our results fully supported a proposed serial multiple-mediator model. Workplace bullying was indirectly related to life satisfaction via job-related anxiety and insomnia. This study provides evidence of a spillover effect as to how workplace bullying increases employees’ job-related anxiety which in turn leads to insomnia resulting in reduced employees’ life satisfaction. The present study extends research on workplace bullying to display its theoretical as well as empirical effects on life satisfaction. It demonstrates that workplace bullying as an occupational and psychological stressor has multiple effects on employees’ life satisfaction through a serial mediation model in the context of a developing country. It further explains that workplace bullying not only affects an employee’s workplace behaviors but also extends to the employee’s overall life satisfaction.

How Workplace Bullying Jeopardizes Employees’ Life Satisfaction: Roles of Job Anxiety and Insomnia

Drawing on Conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study examined the underlying mechanism through which workplace bullying (WB) effects employees’ life satisfaction via job related anxiety an...

Team Job-Related Anxiety and Creativity: Investigating a Moderated Curvilinear Relationship

Job-related anxiety has been investigated to have significant effect on employee attitudes and behaviors. Drawing from activation theory and information processing perspective, we explored whether ...