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Should the subjective be the objective? On studying mental processes, coping behavior, and actual exposures in organizational stress research
Author(s) -
Schaubroeck John
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1379(199909)20:5<753::aid-job950>3.0.co;2-w
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , organizational behavior , coping (psychology) , social psychology , mental health , occupational stress , human resource management , applied psychology , clinical psychology , knowledge management , computer science , psychotherapist
Emphasis on measuring actual (‘objective’) job exposures has increased in recent organizational behavior/human resource management research. I argue that this approach has greater potential for increasing knowledge about how to make work environments more healthy than the alternative approach of focusing on mental processes and individual coping behaviors suggested by Perrewe and Zellars. Incorporating psychological knowledge about attributions and emotions can enhance theory building in the organizational sciences. However, given that health outcomes are more strongly related to continuous exposures it may be better to focus on modal job content and general tendencies of individuals than to emphasize discrete events and specific, transitory states. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.