While the reception of social support at work is generally considered a net positive for employees, researchers have identified that particular kinds of social support, such as unhelpful workplace social support (UWSS), tend to evoke stress and contribute to strain for recipients. Although (Gray et al. Work and Stress , 34 (4), 359–385, 2020 ), when validating the novel UWSS measure, uncovered relations between UWSS and various outcomes, more research is needed to further understand the impacts of UWSS. Furthermore, the extant social support literature is currently lacking in its understanding of how individual differences strengthen or weaken the relations such support has with strain. Drawing from the Theory of Stress as Offense to Self (Semmer et al. Occupational Health Science , 3 (3), 205–238. 10.1007/s41542-019-00041-5, 2019 ), we, through two studies ( N 1 = 203, N 2 = 277), further explore the relations of UWSS, focusing on behavioral and psychological strain, and examine how these relations are influenced by relevant individual differences (e.g., Big Five traits). Results from our first study replicate key findings from (Gray et al. Work and Stress , 34 (4), 359–385, 2020 ), providing additional validity evidence for the novel measure of UWSS, and demonstrate that UWSS is related to various types of behavioral strain. Our second study shows that the strength of these deleterious relations varies based on characteristics of the recipient of UWSS. Altogether, the present research contributes to the literature on social support as a stressor by elucidating further the effects of UWSS, and, perhaps more importantly, for whom UWSS is particularly deleterious.

A preregistered replication was conducted to examine the evidence for the basic dilution effect in a performance prediction context. Participants (n = 796) were presented with either diagnostic information alone or diagnostic + nondiagnostic information in a grade point average (GPA) prediction task. The diagnostic information was either indicative of a low GPA or a high GPA. The basic dilution effect predicts less extreme predictions when nondiagnostic information (e.g., the student describes himself as a cheerful person) is included with the diagnostic information.Despite an unusually large sample, a strong manipulation, and the use of stimulus sampling, results showed no evidence for dilution in GPA predictions. Reasons for the failure to replicate under optimal conditions are discussed.

Recent organizational research has begun focusing on alternative perspectives of the social support dynamic. One of these perspectives is the potential support provider perspective, which captures the social support dynamic from the view of employees put in position to potentially provide social support. Empirical findings concerning this perspective are scant and thus warrant additional research. The present study, using a large, occupationally heterogenous two‐wave sample (N = 447), further explored relations between strain and support elicitation experiences that are emotionally‐valenced, or SEE‐E, from the potential support provider perspective. The role of individual differences in influencing these relations was also investigated. Using hierarchical regression, we found that SEE‐E was related to key forms of psychological (work‐related burnout), behavioral (hostility), and physiological (the presence of physical symptoms) strain. Furthermore, we found that higher levels of agreeableness strengthened the relations between SEE‐E and work‐related burnout, and higher levels of conscientiousness weakened the relations between SEE‐E and hostility. Results from this study contribute to the nascent findings surrounding the potential support provider perspective of the workplace social support dynamic and further demonstrate the importance of individual differences to stressor‐strain dynamics.