ABSTRACT

While social support is generally considered a helpful resource for employees, it can also serve as a job stressor. Unhelpful workplace social support (UWSS) is any action taken by a supervisor and/or colleague that the recipient believes was intended to benefit him or her but is perceived as unhelpful or harmful. Two studies, one qualitative and one quantitative, identified types of UWSS and demonstrated that unhelpful support can operate as a job stressor in relating to strains. In Study 1, critical incidents were collected from 116 employees, and a content analysis revealed 11 distinct categories of UWSS. In Study 2, the taxonomy of UWSS was further refined using quantitative methods. Results of two samples (176 diverse employees and 496 registered nurses) demonstrate that UWSS is associated with higher job-related negative affect, lower competence-based self-esteem, lower coworker satisfaction, higher work-related burnout, higher organisational frustration, and more physical symptoms (e.g. headache, nausea, and fatigue) among recipients. Together, the studies demonstrate that unhelpful workplace social support is a meaningful job stressor worthy of further investigation.

 抽象的

虽然社会支持通常被认为是对员工有用的资源，但它也可能成为工作压力源。无益的工作场所社会支持 (UWSS) 是指主管和/或同事采取的任何行动，接受者认为这些行动旨在使他或她受益，但被认为是无益或有害的。两项研究（一项定性研究和一项定量研究）确定了 UWSS 的类型，并证明无益的支持可能会成为与压力相关的工作压力源。在研究 1 中，收集了 116 名员工的关键事件，内容分析揭示了 11 种不同的 UWSS 类别。在研究 2 中，使用定量方法进一步细化了 UWSS 的分类。两个样本（176 名不同员工和 496 名注册护士）的结果表明，UWSS 与较高的工作相关负面情绪、较低的基于能力的自尊、较低的同事满意度、较高的工作相关倦怠、较高的组织挫败感等相关。接受者出现身体症状（例如头痛、恶心和疲劳）。总之，这些研究表明，无益的工作场所社会支持是一种有意义的工作压力源，值得进一步研究。