Premium
Work stressors, Chinese coping strategies, and job performance in Greater China
Author(s) -
Lu Luo,
Kao ShuFang,
Siu OiLing,
Lu ChangQin
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Book series
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
ISBN - 978-1-4244-2902-8
DOI - 10.1080/00207591003682027
Subject(s) - psychology , stressor , social psychology , coping (psychology) , mainland china , workload , job satisfaction , job performance , job design , interpersonal communication , job attitude , china , applied psychology , clinical psychology , management , political science , law , economics
Theaim of this research was to jointly test effects of work stressors and coping strategies on job performance among employees in the Greater China region. A self‐administered survey was conducted to collect data from three major cities in the region, namely Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei ( N = 380). Four important work stressors were assessed: heavy workload, organizational constraints, lack of work autonomy, and interpersonal conflict. We used a four‐factor model of Chinese coping strategies composed of hobbies/relaxation, active action, seeking social support, and passive adaptation. Job performance was indicated by both task performance (quantity of work, quality of work, job knowledge) and contextual performance (attendance, getting along with others). We found that: (1) work stressors were related to job performance. Specifically, workload had a positive relation with quantity of work, whereas organizational constraints had negative relations with quantity of work and attendance. In addition, interpersonal conflict had a negative relation with getting along with others. (2) Chinese positive coping strategies were positively related to job performance. Specifically, seeking social support had positive relations with quantity of work and getting along with others, whereas active action had positive relations with attendance and job knowledge. (3) Chinese passive adaptation coping behaviors were negatively related to job performance. Specifically, passive adaptation had negative relations with quantity of work, quality of work, and getting along with others. The present study thus found joint effects of work stressors and coping behaviors among Chinese employees in the Greater China region, encompassing three sub‐societies of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Differential effects of Chinese positive and passive coping strategies were also noted. Most importantly, all these effects were demonstrated on multiple indicators of job performance, a rarely studied but important strain variable from the organizational point of view.