Interactive effects of emotional dissonance and self-control demands on burnout, anxiety, and absenteeism

• Published in: Journal of vocational behavior Vol. 77; no. 3; pp. 412 - 424
• Main Authors: Diestel, Stefan, Schmidt, Klaus-Helmut
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Elsevier Inc 01.12.2010; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Absence behavior; Absenteeism; Anxiety; Burnout; Emotional dissonance; Employee Absenteeism; Foreign Countries; Germany; Latent moderator analysis; Organizational behavior; Prediction; Regulatory resource; Self Control; Self-control demands; Stress Variables; Structural Equation Models; Studies; Well Being; Work Environment; Germany; Absence behavior; Latent moderator analysis; Burnout; Anxiety; Emotional dissonance; Self-control demands; Regulatory resource
• ISSN: 0001-8791; 1095-9084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvb.2010.05.006

Two specific sources of stress at work have recently received increasing attention in organizational stress research: emotional dissonance (ED) and self-control demands (SCDs). Both theoretical arguments and experimental findings in basic research strongly suggest that ED and different SCDs draw on a common limited regulatory resource. Consequently, both kinds of stressors should exert interactive effects on indicators of job strain and well-being. Drawing on two German samples (total N=586), we tested this prediction by examining the interaction effects of ED and different dimensions of SCDs on burnout, anxiety, and absence behavior. Latent moderated structural equation modeling provided support for the hypothesized interactive effects of ED and dimensions of SCDs in predicting burnout, anxiety, and absence behavior. More specifically, with each pair of stressors the effects of one stressor were found to be amplified by the other. Finally, we discuss theoretical and practical implications of our results.