The effects of prediction, understanding, and control: A test of the stress antidote model

A study was undertaken to examine further the effects of perceived work control on employee adjustment. On the basis of the stress antidote model, it was proposed that high levels of prediction, understanding, and control of work-related events would have direct, indirect, and interactive effects on levels of employee adjustment. These hypotheses were tested in a short-term longitudinal study of 137 employees of a large retail organization. The stress antidote measures appeared to be indirectly related to employee adjustment, via their effects on perceptions of work stress. There was weak evidence for the proposal that prediction, understanding, and control would buffer the negative effects of work stress. Additional analyses indicated that the observed effects of prediction, understanding, and control were independent of employees’ generalized control beliefs. However, there was no support for the proposal that the effects of the stress antidote measures would be dependent on employees’ generalized control beliefs

Responses to an in-basket activity: the role of work stress, behavioral control, and informational control.

This study was undertaken to examine the main and interactive effects of work stress and work control on levels of adjustment. Work stress, behavioral control, and informational control were manipulated in an experimental setting in which participants (N = 192) completed an in-basket activity. Although minimal support was found for the main and interactive effects of objective work stress, behavioral control, and informational control on adjustment, analyses involving the subjective measures of these variables revealed strong support for the proposal that work stress, behavioral control, and informational control would exert main effects on adjustment. There was also evidence that subjective levels of behavioral control buffered the negative effects of subjective work stress on positive mood, subjective task performance, and task satisfaction

Utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior to Inform Change Management: An Investigation of Employee Intentions to Support Organizational Change

Utilizing the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a framework for understanding employee intentions to support organizational change, this study examined the extent to which attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) and the interactive effect of group norm and ingroup identification predicted intentions to carry out change-supportive activities. It also was hypothesized that communication and participation would increase intentions, with these relationships mediated by the TPB variables. The sample was 149 employees undergoing the first phase of a building relocation. Attitude, subjective norm, and PBC each predicted intentions. A significant interaction emerged, with group norm predicting intentions only for employees who identified strongly with their reference group. Employees who perceived sufficient information about the relocation reported stronger intentions, an effect that was partially mediated via subjective norm and PBC. Similarly, participation predicted intentions via subjective norm. Implications for fostering employee readiness for change are discussed