Employees’ Goal Affect Their Ability to Manage Stress
“The roles of goal orientation and cognitive appraisal in stressor-performance relationships”
Jie Ma, Yisheng Peng, Bo Wu (2021)
What are the researchers interested in?
How do different employees manage stress? In a complex business environment, different types of stressors may be either detrimental or opportunistic for employees. According to challenge-hindrance model, there are two different types of stressors; challenge stressors are demands with potential for employee development and accomplishment; in contrast, hindrance stressors (e.g. red tape) are usually detrimental to personal growth and may even undermine work outcomes (Cavanaugh et al., 2000).
In the current paper, researchers argued the moderating effect of an employee’s goal orientation on the relationship between challenge stressors, hindrance stressors and job performance (Ma et al., 2021). Below we define key variables of the study:
Transactional Theory of Stress
Developed by Lazarus and Folkman (1984), the theory states that when being faced with a stressor, people first perceive the level of the stress. If it is high, individuals will make an appraisal (an interpretation). Thus, a stressor can either be appraised as a challenge that will facilitate growth or a hindrance that impedes growth.
Challenge appraisal – e.g. “Working to fulfill the duties of my job helps me improve my growth and wellbeing”
Hindrance appraisal – e.g. “I feel the duties of my job is constraining my achievement of personal goals.”
This theory also argues that by understanding what is important to an individual, especially personally valued goals, will have implications of managing a stressful stimuli.
Goal Orientation
Individuals differ in what they seek to achieve and value; in work, employees are the same. The concept of goal orientation forms three distinct goals in work achievement situations:
1. Learning goal orientation (LGO): Developing oneself, improve their own competence.
2. Performance-prove goal orientation (PPGO): Demonstrating ones skill, gain positive judgement from others.
3. Performance avoid goal orientation (PAGO): Desire to conceal one’s incompetency, avoiding performance failure and negative evaluation.
Predictions
LGO employees value personal development and skill enhancement. Challenge stressors will provide them the opportunity to improve their competencies and master new skills. Thus, LGO employees will appraise challenge stressors as challenging and be encouraged to execute them. In a different vein, LGO employees will see hindrance stressors as less hindering because they will reframe this negative situation.
LGO employees will make an increase of challenge appraisals when met with challenge stressors, and make less hindrance appraisals when met with a hindrance stressor (increasing job performance in both cases)
PPGO employees value social approval when allowed to demonstrate their ability. Challenge stressors will indicate an opportunity to outperform others. Therefore, these individuals will view these stressors as a chance to prove their competence and are more likely to make challenge appraisals. On the other hand, hindrance stressors often prevent employees from gaining successful recognition. Thus, hindrance stressors can be detrimental to PPGO individuals and are more likely to view hindrance stressors as an impasse.
PPGO employees will make an increase of challenge appraisals when met with challenge stressors, and make more hindrance appraisals when met with a hindrance stressor (only increasing job performance in challenges)
PAGO employees are predisposed to avoid failure rather than pursuing growth. Challenge stressors can benefit success and growth, but these are less valued in PAGO employees as they often seek to avoid the appearance of incompetence. Hindrance stressors will only threaten performance-avoidance goals, as it maximizes the risk of task incompletion or work incompetence.
PAGO employees will make less challenge appraisals when met with challenge stressors, and make more hindrance appraisals when met with a hindrance stressor (decreasing job performance in both cases)
What method did they use?
We have adapted the theoretical concept present in the current study, that aimed to visualize the relationship of goal orientation, stressors, appraisal and job performance.
Goal Orientation moderates the effect between Stressors and Appraisal – together the relationship affects performance
Ma and colleagues (2021) recruited full-time employees and their direct supervisors from three main organizations (e.g., a law firm, an accounting firm, and a financial consulting firm) in China; using a time-lag approach, where data was collected in two phases. The time-lag aimed to establish temporal precedence (a clear cause-and-effect relationship).
At time 1, participants (only the full-time employees) completed a survey assessing stressors, appraisals, goal orientation and demographic information. At time 2, the employee’s direct supervisors were asked to rate employee task performance and their work proactivity.
What did they end up finding?
Both LGO and PPGO made challenge appraisals when met with challenge stressors and produced a positive relationship between challenge stressors and job performance. Unsurprisingly, LGOs made significantly fewer hindrance appraisals when met with hindrance stressors; however, PPGO and PAGO were more likely to make hindrance appraisals when met with hindrance stressors, negatively affecting their job performance (Ma et al., 2021).
The study successfully confirmed the mediating factor of goal orientation between stressors and appraisals, specifically both challenging and hindering ones and ultimately leading to job performance.
Why does this matter for organizations?
A paramount goal for human resource management is to train and reinforce positive work behaviors around the organization. Managers who understand goal orientation types will accurately provide tailored programmes and a learning climate to reinforce LGO behaviour. When organizations encourage employees to explore novel solutions and learn from failure whilst rewarding those who proactively engage in their own self-development, will benefit from higher job performance in their workforce. During recruitment, it is also crucial to understand the goal orientation types of certain recruits and make conscious decisions in allocating them to job positions. Most of the time, PPGOs are likely to stand out in interviews, however, LGO’s prove to handle and adapt to multiple job stressors better.
Below are simple questions that recruiters and managers can use in identifying a person’s goal orientation type.
References
Cavanaugh, M. A., Boswell, W. R., Roehling, M. V., & Boudreau, J. W. (2000). An empirical examination of self-reported work stress among US managers. Journal of Applied
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping.New York: Springer.
Ma J, Peng Y, Wu B. Challenging or hindering? The roles of goal orientation and cognitive appraisal in stressor- performance relationships. J Organ Behav. 2021;1–19. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2503