Transactional Theory Of Stress Research Articles

Authoritarian leadership and employee creativity: The moderating role of psychological capital and the mediating role of fear and defensive silence

Drawing from the transactional theory of stress, we examined the relationships between authoritarian leadership, fear, defensive silence, and ultimately employee creativity. We also explored the moderating effect of employee psychological capital on these mediated relationships. We tested our hypothesized model in two studies of employee-supervisor dyads working in Africa (Nigeria; Study 1) and Asia (China; Study 2). The results of Study 1 revealed that the negative relationship between authoritarian leadership and creativity was mediated by employee defensive silence. Extending these findings in a three-wave study in Study 2, our results revealed a more complex relationship. Specifically, our results showed that both fear and defensive silence serially mediated the link between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. In addition, we found that this mediated relationship was moderated by employee psychological capital such that the relationship was stronger when psychological capital was low (versus high). Implications for both theory and practice are discussed.

“Dirty” Workplace Politics and Well-Being

We build and empirically test an integrative model of gender, workplace politics, and stress by integrating social role theory and prescriptive gender stereotypes with the transactional theory of stress. To examine the effect of gender on the relation between exposure to non-sanctioned political influence tactics (NPITs; e.g., self-serving and socially undesirable behaviors such as manipulation and intimidation) and stress outcomes, we employed a daily diary design with 64 employed adults over the course of 12 working days. In support of our hypotheses, exposure to NPITs––that is, “dirty politics”––elicited a threat appraisal that, in turn, related to the activation of negative emotions. Moreover, unlike men, women who reported higher levels of NPITs experienced heightened levels of threat appraisal and ultimately negative emotions. We demonstrate that pairing social role theory with the transactional theory of stress is a useful approach for researchers interested in better understanding gender differences in the occupational stress process. Anyone interested in reducing stress in the workplace is encouraged not only to reduce the occurrence of NPITs, but also to consider ways to reduce the threat associated with them, especially for women.

Modelo estructural para explicar el bruxismo desde la teoría transaccional del estrés

In order to explain the influence of psychosocial factors in people with self-reported bruxism, an explanatory model was evaluated by analyzing the stress-emotion-handling process based on the transactional stress theory. One hundred and twenty eight people, who self-reported symptoms of bruxism, participated in this study. The following psychological variables were evaluated using self-administered questionnaires of adequate validity and reliability: perceived stress, anxiety, inadequate self-critical coping and social withdrawal, and trait neuroticism. The results of the final structural model show adequate Goodness-of-fit indexes and suggest that, within this group of people, coping as a cognitive and behavioral resource has an influence on the cognitive appraisal of the stressor. In addition, the muscle-mandibular activity of bruxism is interpreted as a physical response to psychological stress.

Personal resources in coping with stress among paramedics part 2

The purpose of this project was to determine the relationships between the sense of coherence and paramedics’ coping with stress styles. Owning such resources as high sense of coherence or task-oriented coping with stress style does not imply triggering them in encountering a critical situation. However, if triggered, they become an important variable acting as an intermediary between stressful events and coping. Two concepts serve as a theoretical basis: R. Lazarus’ transactional theory of stress and Antonovsky’s salutogenic theory.

Always bad for creativity? An affect-based model of job insecurity and the moderating effects of giving support and receiving support

Drawing on an overarching framework of transactional stress theory, in this article the authors develop and test a theoretical model specifying the affect-based relationships between job insecurity and employee creativity, as well as the buffering role of giving support and receiving support in the affective processes. Results from a sample of 569 employees showed that job insecurity had offsetting indirect links with employee creativity through attentiveness and irritation. Both giving support and receiving support reduce the negative effect of job insecurity on employee creativity because they both weaken the negative link between job insecurity and irritation. It was also found that receiving support enhanced the positive relationship between job insecurity and attentiveness. Implications of the results to theory and practice are discussed.

How Workplace Ostracism Influences Interpersonal Deviance: The Mediating Role of Defensive Silence and Emotional Exhaustion

This study investigated the mediating effects of defensive silence and emotional exhaustion between ostracism and interpersonal deviance, explained through transactional theory of stress and coping. Time-lagged and multi-source data was collected at two measurement points from 320 employees, working in service sector organizations of Pakistan. Employees appraise ostracism as an uncontrollable interpersonal stressor that threatens their relational and efficacy needs. They try to deal with this threat through an avoidant coping approach and resort to interpersonal deviance, via a cognitive path and an emotional route, namely defensive silence and emotional exhaustion. Our results show that workplace ostracism, defensive silence, and emotional exhaustion contribute to the prevalence of interpersonal deviance, and offer several direct as well as indirect options. One path involves actions that discourage ostracism through various human resource functions. Another step pertains to defensive silence which could be put off by a suggestion system that offers psychological safety to employees. The last measure relates to emotional exhaustion, prevented by emotional mentoring and employee assistance plans. The present study explains the underlying cognitive and emotional mechanisms between ostracism and interpersonal deviance. It extends research on defensive silence to demonstrate its theoretical as well as empirical effect on interpersonal deviance. It further explains how employees use interpersonal deviance, to reduce the negative effect of ostracism. Lastly, it describes ostracism and deviance in the context of collectivist culture of Pakistan, which underscores close interpersonal relationships.

Cyberbullying impacts on victims’ satisfaction with information and communication technologies: The role of Perceived Cyberbullying Severity

This study aims to understand how individuals’ perceptions of the severity of cyberbullying they endure affects their experience with the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) medium through which cyberbullying occurs. To this end, it proposes a theoretical model based on Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping and Expectation-Confirmation Theory. A survey-based study involving 115 cyberbullying victims is employed to empirically validate the proposed model. Results indicate that victims’ perceptions of the severity of a cyberbullying episode negatively impact their satisfaction with ICT. Implications of these results for academics and practitioners are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.

Timesizing Proximity and Perceived Organizational Support: Contributions to Employee Well-being and Extra-role Performance

ABSTRACTTimesizing, i.e. reduced work hours, has emerged as a less problematic alternative to layoffs. However, timesizing carries problems in terms of employee stress, attitudes, and performance. Based on the transactional theory of stress and the job demands-resources model, the authors proposed that timesizing proximity and perceived organizational support (POS) interactively predict employee stress appraisal and its outcomes. Through a field quasi-experiment involving 251 employees and their supervisors in a social service agency that was undergoing timesizing, the study found that higher POS minimized the effect of timesizing proximity on employees’ stress appraisal. In turn, stress appraisal was related to a number of cross-sectionally assessed outcomes including emotional exhaustion, reduced affective commitment to change, and reduced extra-role performance. These results highlight POS as a key organizational resource that lessens the negative consequences of proximity to timesizing.

Bad or Good? An Affect-based Model of Job Insecurity and the Role of Bidirectional Social Support

Drawing on an overarching framework of transactional stress theory, we develop and test a theoretical model specifying the affect-based relationships among job insecurity and employee creativity, a...

HEALING TOUCH AS SELF-CARE FOR VETERANS WITH HYPERTENSION

Seventy-eight million Americans suffer from hypertension, a key factor of cardiovascular diseases nationally and worldwide. Stress has been implicated as one of the contributors to hypertension (HTN). One out of every three veterans are diagnosed with high blood pressure. Roger’s Theory of Science of Unitary Human Beings and Lazarus’ Transactional Theory of stress were used to guide this study. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine whether the use of self-care healing touch, can reduce stress and anxiety in veterans 60 and older, diagnosed with hypertension. In this a pre-intervention, post-intervention randomized two-group experimental pilot study, 24 veterans, 10 African American, 9 Caucasians, 6 other, were recruited from Los Angeles County. Participants were randomized into 2 groups (intervention and control) for this 4 week study. Outcome measures included changes in blood pressure, self-reported stress using the Daily Stress Inventory (DSI) and anxiety measured using the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI). Results showed a significant difference in the systolic blood pressure in the intervention group compared to the control group at Week 4. There was a marginal significance found in the heart rate, but no statistical significance seen in the stress or anxiety results on this minimal sampling study.

Infidelity’s aftermath: Appraisals, mental health, and health-compromising behaviors following a partner’s infidelity

Guided by transactional stress theory, this research investigated the role of appraisals in noninvolved partners’ mental health and health-compromising behaviors after infidelity. Responses from 232 college students who were recently cheated on revealed that negative appraisals (partner blame, self-blame, and causal attribution) had indirect effects on health-compromising behaviors through mental health (depression, anxiety, and distress). Moderated mediation analyses revealed that gender altered the indirect effect of partner and self-blame on health-compromising behaviors through mental health. Men’s health-compromising behaviors did not differ based on their appraisals or mental health. However, women who reported negative appraisals and high levels of mental health consequences engaged in more health-compromising behaviors. These findings suggest that perceptions of a partner’s infidelity are important, and that those perceptions affect noninvolved partners’ mental health and physical health behaviors.

Performance, Stress, and Attitudinal Outcomes of Perceptions of Others’ Entitlement Behavior: Supervisor–Subordinate Work Relationship Quality as Moderator in Two Samples

Supervisor–subordinate work relationships are based on a series of potentially fluctuating resource allocation episodes. Building on this reality, we hypothesized in the present research that supervisor–subordinate work relationship quality will neutralize the negative attitudinal and behavioral strain effects associated with perceptions of others’ entitlement behavior. We draw upon the transactional theory of stress, and the social exchange and support features of leader–member exchange theory, to explain our expected neutralizing effects on job tension, job satisfaction, and contextual performance/citizenship behavior. Results supported study hypotheses in Sample 1. Findings were replicated in Sample 2 and extended by also demonstrating the interaction effect on task performance. Contributions to theory and research, strengths and limitations, directions for future work, and practical implications are discussed.

The Role of Economic Development and Perceived Growth Opportunities in Employee Reactions to M&As

We draw on the economic institutions literature and on transactional stress theory to explain differences in employee reactions to mergers and acquisitions (M&As) across 29 nations. Using a sample of 10,803 middle managers and executives, we find that country-level economic development moderates the effects of an M&A on employee attitudes and outcomes. Unlike in more advanced economies where M&As are associated with a reduction in perceived growth opportunities among employees, in less advanced economies, M&As are associated with increased perceptions of growth opportunities. These perceived growth opportunities post-M&A are associated with positive employee outcomes such as work–life balance, job satisfaction, organizational satisfaction, and reduced turnover intentions. Our results highlight the role that growth opportunities and the economic context play in harnessing human capital after an M&A.

Working with the stress of errors: Error management strategies as coping.

Workplace error management research has focused on performance, especially in training settings. The connection of error management strategies to employees’ well-being has not been examined despite the fact that errors can include making mistakes that are threatening to one’s sense of self-worth. The present study connects the number of errors committed to employees’ psychological strain through interpretations of errors, or error management. The transactional theory of stress provides a framework for the study. Sampling from various organizations and Mechanical Turk, 356 cases were analyzed. Positive error management (PEM) did not appear to reduce strains, but negative error management (NEM) increased them. NEM mediated the relationship between errors and error strain, and error strain mediated the relationship between NEM and emotional exhaustion. Future research on error management could focus on individual and organizational differences that may affect employees’ interpretations and management of errors, and on the examination of errors and error management strategies cross-culturally.

INTERCULTURAL INTERACTIONS AT MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS’ WORKPLACE: GROUNDED THEORY

Purpose : Due to globalization and the global mobility of workforce, working in multicultural environments is a new challenge for employees and managers. The aim of the paper is to analyze the social interactions in multicultural environments of multinational corporations (MNCs) as well as to propose a model of intercultural social interactions in MNCs’ specific context. Design/methodology/approach : The grounded theory approach was applied to create a model of intercultural interactions in MNCs. The data was obtained during the qualitative research based on comparative case studies collected in 5 MNCs’ subsidiaries. Findings: The proposed model refers to the following concepts: 1) Lazarus’s transactional stress theory states that job demands may be assessed as hindrances or challenges. The specific job demands that affect intercultural interactions are multilingualism, cultural diversity, cross-cultural adjustment and team work. 2) Positive psychological capital and an individual’s acquired resources are in relation with intercultural interactions. 3) According to Bandura’s agentic perspective, individuals take an active role in shaping social interactions and work environment. 4) Being an agent relates to Spreitzer’s thriving concept that can serve as a mechanism of relations between the interactions undertaken due to MNCs’ specific job demands and their outcomes. Research limitations/implications: The qualitative methodology applied to the research does not allow for a broader generalization of the results. The outcomes of intercultural interactions depend mainly on how individuals assess their job demands in MNCs. Practical implications: Since the workplace in MNCs is abundant in learning opportunities, the managers of MNCs need to hire employees who exhibit needs for growth and development to boost thriving in their organizations. Additionally, these managers should search for employees with experience of multicultural settings and a signifi cant capacity of positive psychological capital, thanks to which they are likely to benefi t more from intercultural social interactions. More concern should be put on training the employees’ language skills since it may build their self-eff icacy in intercultural interactions. Originality/value: The proposed model focuses on social interactions in MNCs’ unique context. The empirical fi ndings were interpreted with regard to psychological and sociological theories and the Positive Organizational Scholarship lens.

The perceived risk of pregnancy as a mediator of the association between prenatal maternal self-efficacy and postnatal subjective well-being.

The present study examined the mediating role of a mother's appraisal of the risk of being pregnant in the association between prenatal maternal self-efficacy and postnatal subjective well-being, regardless of actual objective risk. Recruited through public health funds, 582 Israeli women filled out self-reported questionnaires during the third trimester of their pregnancy and about eight weeks postnatal. Results confirmed a mediating effect, implying that health professionals treating pregnant women, have the ability to impact maternal subjective well-being, beyond their physical condition, through their regular pregnancy monitoring checkups. The results are discussed in light of Transactional Stress Theory.

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...

Analysis of Relationship between Weather and Outdoor Recreation Participants’ Behavior Based on the Transactional Stress Theory : Focused on In-depth Interview of the Camping Participants

This study started from the problem that although researches on consumers’ response to weather in the outdoor recreation settings are important due to recent climate changes, there are few related theoretical approaches. So, the purpose of this study was to figure out relationship between weather and outdoor recreation participants’ behavior by applying the stress theory from the transactional perspective. Specifically, this study was to specify the relationship between weather stress appraisal and coping behaviors. Data for this study was collected through in depth interviews, and total 17 participants are interviewed. The result is as follows. First, the stress camping participants experience due to the bad weather was confirmed as primary and secondary appraisal concept of the transactional stress theory. Second, as a result of in-depth interview, ‘facility resource appraisal’ reflecting the characteristics of outdoor recreation and weather was found in a secondary appraisal. Third, this research confirmed the claims of the previous studies have suggested that outdoor recreation participants to apply various coping mechanisms due to the stressful weather. In this study, the weather can be evaluated very different depending on the individual circumstances at least when the weather is bad situation . Therefore, future research should focus on the differences between the individuals of the evaluation of the weather.

MEMORIJSKE DISTORZIJE U ISTRAŽIVANJU EMOCIJA

Psihologe su odvajkada intrigirali razni aspketi funkcionisanja ljudskog pamćenja. Kapacitet memorije prosečnog odraslog čoveka, razni viši kognitivni procesi koji su krucijalni za kodiranje, skladištenje i organizaciju sećanja, kao i fenomen zaboravljanja – samo su neke od tema koje su naučnici intenzivno izučavali u okviru raznih subdisciplina psihologije. U ovom preglednom članku prvo je dat detaljan prikaz najpoznatijih rezultata empirijskih istraživanja koja su se bavila tačnošću sećanja na emocionalno obojene događaje iz prošlosti. Opisane su do sada otkrivene pravilnosti u javljanju tzv. memorijskih distorzija u sećanjima na osećanja izazvana prošlim intenzivnim i značajnim iskustvima. U drugom delu rada fenomen memorijskih iskrivljenja smešten je u širi konceptualni okvir stres-procesa i predstavljena su empirijska istraživanja koja su imala za cilj utvrđivanje stepena tačnosti sećanja na suočavanje sa raznim stresnim transakcijama koje su se odvijale u prošlosti. Takođe, prodiskutovana je uloga osobine neuroticizma u nastanku memorijskih distorzija.

Examining the effects of negative affectivity on self- and supervisor ratings of job stressors: the role of stressor observability

ABSTRACTIn this study, we investigated job stressor ratings through Lazarus' transactional stress theory and the usefulness of supervisor ratings as an alternative to employee self-reports. Based on the finding that negative affectivity (NA) causes incumbents to over-report job stressors, we hypothesized that supervisors may also be affected by their NA when appraising an incumbent's job stressors. Building upon the literatures on judgement processes and social-cognitive information processing, we further hypothesized that stressor observability is an important boundary condition. Specifically, we hypothesized that the impact of NA on both self- and supervisor-reported job stressors should increase as stressor observability decreases. Moreover, we hypothesized that incumbent and supervisor ratings would converge less as stressor observability decreases. Data from 260 incumbent-supervisor dyads showed that stressor observability reduced the impact of supervisor NA on supervisor ratings (but not the impact of incumbent NA on incumbent stressor ratings). Further, as hypothesized, incumbent and supervisor ratings showed less convergence the less observable the stressor was. The results highlight the importance of personal and situational factors in the stressor appraisal process – an issue that advances both research and practice in the field of stressor ratings.