The challenge-hindrance model deems primary appraisal the central mechanism underlying the effects of challenge and hindrance stressors on employee outcomes. However, the literature has reported conflicting findings on the relationships between challenge/hindrance stressors and challenge/hindrance appraisals. Drawing upon transactional theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), the current study aims to address these conflicting findings by investigating the moderating effect of conscientiousness on stressor-appraisal relationships. On this basis, we further demonstrate when challenge and hindrance appraisals mediate the effects of challenge and hindrance stressors on work motivation (i.e., work engagement) and job strain (i.e., job-related anxiety). We conducted two substudies to examine the research model at the between-person level (Study 1) and the within-person level (Study 2). The results of both studies were highly convergent. Challenge stressors were more positively related to both challenge and hindrance appraisals for employees high in conscientiousness. Hindrance stressors were also more positively related to hindrance appraisal for employees high in conscientiousness. By exacerbating the stressor-appraisal relationships, conscientiousness was found to strengthen the indirect relationship of challenge stressors with work engagement via challenge appraisal and the indirect relationships of challenge and hindrance stressors with job-related anxiety via hindrance appraisal. We conclude that conscientiousness functions as a double-edged sword in the process of making primary appraisals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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员工如何评估挑战和障碍压力源？揭露尽职尽责的双重影响。

挑战-阻碍模型认为主要评估挑战和阻碍压力源对员工绩效的影响的核心机制。然而，文献报道了关于挑战/阻碍压力源与挑战/阻碍评估之间的关系的矛盾发现。借鉴交易理论（Lazarus＆Folkman，1984），当前的研究旨在通过调查认真性对压力评估关系的调节作用来解决这些矛盾的发现。在此基础上，我们进一步证明了挑战和障碍评估在何时调解挑战和障碍压力源对工作动机（即工作投入）和工作压力（即与工作相关的焦虑）的影响。我们进行了两个子研究，以研究人际层面（研究1）和人际层面（研究2）的研究模型。两项研究的结果高度收敛。挑战压力源与尽职尽责的员工的挑战和障碍评估之间存在更大的正相关关系。阻碍压力源也与尽职尽责的员工的障碍评估有着更积极的关系。通过加重压力与压力的评估关系，我们发现通过认真评估可以增强挑战压力与工作投入之间的间接关系，而通过障碍评估可以增强与工作相关的焦虑与压力和压力障碍之间的间接关系。我们得出的结论是，尽职调查在做出初步评估的过程中起了一把双刃剑的作用。