Job Stressors and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Roles of Organizational Commitment and Social Interaction

Reducing the harmful effect of work overload on creative behaviour: Buffering roles of energy‐enhancing resources

“…The direct negative relationship between work overload and creative behaviour is in line with previous research on the harmful role of adverse work conditions for positive work behaviours (Boyd et al, ; Paillé, ; Pooja et al, ; Spreitzer et al, ). Excessive workloads drain employees' energy (Altaf & Awan, ) and undermine their ability and motivation to engage in productive work behaviours, such as creativity (Amabile, ; Chen et al, ).…”

“…According to this framework, workplace adversity depletes employees' energy levels, which may spill over to a reduced propensity to engage in positive work behaviours (Bakker & Demerouti, ; van Emmerik et al, ). However, JD‐R theory also posits that the negative, energy‐depleting effect of workplace adversity is less salient when employees have access to energy‐enhancing resources (Pooja et al, ; Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, ), whether these resources stem from their personal characteristics or their relationships with external entities (Schaufeli & Bakker, ). In the presence of such resources, demanding work conditions are less likely to turn employees away from positive work behaviours, because the resources function as protection or ‘buffers’ against this impact (Bakker & Demerouti, ).…”

“…Moreover, when employees feel comfortable expressing their concerns about how excessive workloads may undermine their organizational functioning, they may gain reassurance from their collaborative colleagues that such a fear is unjustified (Stephens et al, ), which should help them suppress negative emotions of frustration that otherwise would steer them away from productive work behaviours such as creativity (Bakker & Demerouti, ). Similarly, the emotional support that employees experience through their social exchanges with colleagues, including the realization that they are not alone in having to cope with heavy workloads and the associated feeling of ‘being in the same boat’ (Pooja et al, ; Stephens et al, ), may fuel positive energy that diminishes the likelihood that work overload diminishes creative behaviour. Therefore, employees should be less likely to respond to excessive workloads in the form of lower creativity to the extent that they can freely share their emotions with organizational peers.Hypothesis The negative relationship between employees' perceptions of work overload and creative behaviour is moderated by their emotion sharing, such that the relationship is weaker at higher levels of emotion sharing.…”

“…To anchor our theoretical arguments about the negative relationship between work overload and creative behaviour, as well as the conditions in which work overload might be less likely to diminish such behaviour, we rely on the job demands–resources (JD‐R) model. According to this model, demanding work conditions deplete employees' energy levels, such that employees turn away from positive work behaviours, but their access to relevant resources can mitigate or buffer this process (Bakker & Demerouti, ; Pooja, De Clercq, & Belausteguigoitia, ). Similarly, our baseline premise is that when employees believe they have insufficient time to do their job because of unrealistic deadlines, the resulting energy depletion inhibits their discretionary efforts aimed at creating new ideas (Chen et al, ; van Emmerik, Bakker, & Euwema, ).…”

“…Each moderator captures employees' personal perceptions, but they also reflect sources of energy that may reside at different levels: Passion for work captures positive energy that employees possess internally (De Clercq & Belausteguigoitia, ); emotion sharing captures positive energy derived from exchange relationships with peers (Stephens et al, ); and organizational commitment captures positive energy achieved because of how employees feel about their employing organization (Meyer et al, ). Accordingly, the consideration of these three contingency factors offers a consistent and comprehensive perspective on how employees' resource access may buffer against the likelihood that they refrain from creativity in the presence of excessive workloads (Bakker & Demerouti, ; Pooja et al, ).…”