ABSTRACT

To date, there is a paucity of research on team-level impacts on the individual stress appraisal process despite the recognised role of teams for solving problems. Applying a multilevel approach, this study investigates the cross-level impact of team problem prevention behaviours on employee stress appraisals of problem-solving demands. It was hypothesised that team problem prevention would moderate the individual-level relationship between problem-solving demands and stress appraisals. Data were collected from 43 work teams comprised of 192 team members including all team leaders who also provided evaluations of their team’s problem prevention behaviour. Results supported the hypothesised cross-level moderating effects on challenge appraisal, but not threat appraisal. As one of the first studies to demonstrate that stress appraisals are impacted by the group, not just by individual factors, the results support a multilevel conceptualisation of stress appraisals. The findings also highlight implications for practice, broadening the scope of possibilities for stress management interventions to utilise team-level strategies such as leadership development programmes and/or team building initiatives.

摘要

迄今为止，尽管团队在解决问题方面的作用得到公认，但对团队水平对个人压力评估过程的影响的研究很少。本研究采用多层次方法，研究了团队问题预防行为对解决问题需求的员工压力评估的跨层次影响。假设团队问题的预防将缓和解决问题的需求和压力评估之间的个人关系。从包括192个团队成员在内的43个工作团队收集了数据，其中包括所有团队负责人，他们还提供了团队问题预防行为的评估。结果支持了假设水平对挑战评估的缓和作用，但不支持威胁评估。作为首批表明压力评估受小组而不是单个因素影响的研究之一，研究结果支持了压力评估的多层次概念化。调查结果还突出了实践的意义，从而扩大了压力管理干预措施的可能性范围，以利用团队级策略，例如领导力发展计划和/或团队建设计划。