Are you threatening me? Development and validation of the Conflict Escalation Questionnaire.

This study aimed to develop and validate an instrument for measuring conflict escalation based on Glasl's conflict escalation model, which can also be used for measuring bullying conflicts. The instrument should be applicable both as a self-assessment and as an interviewer-assessment. In the first study, a first set of items measuring the stages of Glasl's model was developed and validated in an independent cross-sectional sample of 154 participants who completed the self-assessment. In 142 cases, interviews were conducted, and thus self and interviewer-assessments could be compared. In a second study, the final set of items was cross-validated on a second independent cross-sectional sample. In total, 105 participants completed the self-assessment only and 114 were part of the interview study. Because Glasl's model is complex, scale validation was based on a combination of classical statistical validation procedures. Both studies indicate good validity of the new instrument and provide evidence for Glasl's conflict escalation model. As expected, conflict escalation was positively related to negative affect, irritation, and depression. Relationship conflict was more prevalent in more highly escalated conflicts as compared to lower escalated conflicts. Victims of workplace bullying were classified in high escalation levels and showed higher inferiority in conflict situations compared to non-victims with highly escalated conflicts. The present instrument can be used to assess qualitative differences in conflict escalation and thus complements existing instruments to measure conflicts. It is especially useful for practitioners, as they can assess conflict escalation more accurately and thus better choose the appropriate form of intervention.

Ready for change? A longitudinal examination of challenge stressors in the context of organizational change.

In an effort to coalesce current occupational stress and organizational change research, the present article examines the lagged effects of challenge stressors on employee strain and well-being using panel data from two different studies. Guided by the theoretical assumptions underlying the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, we assumed that time pressure and concentration demands are challenge stressors for employees who are not confronted with significant personal or organizational change. Data from a first study (N = 394) showed that both stressors had positive lagged effects on professional efficacy but not on emotional exhaustion. By contrast, we expected that the effects on professional efficacy are lower for employees facing change. Given that organizational change requires high resource investment, we hypothesized that stressor effects depend on constraints for successful coping. Therefore, ambiguity intolerance and procrastination were considered to be moderators. Using a time-lagged quasi-experimental design (change group: N = 140; control group: N = 257), data showed that challenge stressors had positive effects on emotional exhaustion in both groups, but only positive effects on professional efficacy in the control group. Moderator analyses for the change group revealed that time pressure and concentration demands had positive effects on professional efficacy when employees were high in ambiguity tolerance and low in procrastination and negative effects when employees were low in ambiguity tolerance and high in procrastination. Overall, we provide support for the positive effects of challenge stressors over time and emphasize the role of coping capabilities in the context of organizational change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing a multidimensional model of emotional labor, emotional abilities, and exhaustion: A multilevel, multimethod approach.

Addressing health-related risks for employees in the service sector, we identify emotion regulation (ER) ability-a dimension of emotional intelligence-as a promising resource with potential for facilitating emotional labor. We use an event-sampling design to investigate whether person-level ER ability moderates situation-dependent relationships of three different emotional labor strategies with emotional exhaustion in a beneficial way. Study 1 included data from 861 customer interactions from 187 service employees in the financial sector. All measures were self-ratings. Study 2 included 479 interactions from 101 employees in different service occupations; following a multimethod approach, ER ability was additionally assessed with peer ratings and an objective test. Controlling for age and gender, hierarchical linear modeling analyses indicated main effects of event-level surface acting and automatic regulation on emotional exhaustion in both studies. Multilevel results showed that ER ability-in contrast to the global score of emotional intelligence-moderated relationships of three different emotional labor strategies with exhaustion. In particular, resource loss via surface acting was buffered. Overall, findings contribute to knowledge on emotional abilities in emotional labor processes, and differences in operationalizing and assessing ER ability. Practical implications concerning employee health are given. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Age, emotion regulation strategies, burnout, and engagement in the service sector: advantages of older workers / Edad, estrategias de regulación emocional, burnout e implicación laboral en el sector servicios: ventajas en los trabajadores mayores

Organizations face a progressively ageing workforce and jobs with direct customer contact are growing, creating challenging issues from a human resource management perspective. Drawing on socioemotional selectivity theory and lifespan development findings, this study focuses on the research gap in the service sector with regard to age, emotional labour, and associated positive and negative outcomes. Analyses using data from 444 service employees in Germany revealed age is negatively directly related to exhaustion and cynicism, and positively directly related to professional efficacy, as well as positively directly linked to engagement. Additionally, age predicts less burnout and more engagement indirectly through the use of the emotion regulation strategies surface acting and anticipative deep acting. This provides evidence against the general deficit hypothesis of age, which assumes a decline of employee skills and abilities with age. We find no evidence that older workers are worse than younger workers, with older workers using positive emotion regulation strategies, being more engaged and less burnt out (AU)

Las organizaciones se enfrentan a una mano de obra cada vez más envejecida y los puestos de trabajo de contacto con el público, en aumento, están planteando problemas desde la perspectiva de gestión de los recursos humanos. Basándonos en de la teoría de la selectividad socioemocional y en los descubrimientos sobre la evolución de la duración de la vida, este estudio centra su atención en el vacío de investigación que hay en el sector público con respecto a la edad, el trabajo emocional y resultados asociados positivos y negativos. Los análisis con 444 empleados en el sector servicios de Alemania han puesto de manifiesto que la edad se relaciona de un modo directo negativamente con el agotamiento emocional y con el cinismo, así como positivamente con la eficacia profesional y también con la implicación laboral. Además, la edad predice menos burnout y más compromiso laboral indirectamente, a través de la actuación superficial y de la actuación anticipatoria profunda mediante la utilización de estrategias de regulación emocional. Este hecho es una prueba contra la hipótesis de déficit general de la edad, que supone que las destrezas y aptitudes de los trabajadores disminuyen con la edad. No hemos comprobado que los trabajadores mayores sean peores que los jóvenes; es más, utilizan estrategias positivas de regulación emocional, tienen una mayor implicación laboral y un menor burnout (AU)

So what really is user experience? An experimental study of user needs and emotional responses as underlying constructs.

This driving simulator study extended knowledge on user experience using a strategy to mitigate distraction resulting from the use of in-vehicle information systems (IVISs). It examined the impact of system restrictions on users' needs, emotions and consequences of users' experience in terms of psychological reactance. In a repeated measures design, we asked 53 participants to perform secondary tasks with an IVIS while driving. Three versions of the system varied with respect to the number of operable functionalities. The more functionalities that were disabled while driving, the more negatively users rated the systems. Multilevel regression analyses of at least n = 155 data points revealed that drivers' need fulfilment predicted their emotions. Reactance depended on users' need fulfilment and emotions. Experienced autonomy mediated the relation between functional limitations and reactance. When developing interactive systems, one should focus on needs and be aware of potential unwanted consequences such as psychological reactance. Practitioner Summary: This driving simulator study highlights the importance of considering need fulfilment and users' emotions when developing an interactive system that provides high user experience. System restrictions could have negative consequences as users might show psychological reactance.

Demand-control-person: integrating the demand-control and conservation of resources models to test an expanded stressor-strain model.

We propose an expanded stressor-strain model that explicitly incorporates person characteristics, the Demand-Control-Person model. This model integrates Karasek's traditional Demand-Control model with Hobfoll's (1989) Conservation of Resources theory. With participants from two organizations, we tested the moderating role of emotional stability in conjunction with two job demands (i.e., uncertainty and time pressure) and control (i.e., decision latitude) in predicting two forms of strain (i.e., job dissatisfaction and disengagement). Our findings support the expanded Demand-Control-Person model, such that a significant three-way interaction emerged for uncertainty and time pressure. As predicted, the traditional Demand-Control model only held among individuals high in emotional stability, such that low-emotional stability individuals did either not benefit as readily from decision latitude or were more susceptible to job demands when they had decision latitude. Thus, the Demand-Control-Person model may provide a more comprehensive model and consistent prediction of the effect of stressors on strain as determined by individual characteristics.

Psychophysiological effects of emotional display rules and the moderating role of trait anger in a simulated call center.

In customer interactions, emotional display rules typically prescribe service providers to suppress negative emotions and display positive ones. This study investigated the causal impact of these emotional display rules on physiological indicators of workers' stress and performance. Additionally, the moderating influence of personality was examined by analyzing the impact of trait anger. In a simulated call center, 82 females were confronted with a complaining customer and instructed to react either authentically and show their true emotions or to "serve with a smile" and hide negative emotions. Increases in diastolic blood pressure and heart rates were higher in the smile condition, while verbal fluency was lower. Trait anger moderated the effects on diastolic blood pressure and observer ratings' of participants' professional competence, suggesting more negative effects for high trait anger individuals. Findings imply that emotional display rules may increase call center employees' strain and that considering employees' personality may be crucial for precluding health and performance impairments among call center workers.

Self-concept clarity and the management of social conflict.

In 4 studies we examined the relationship between self-concept clarity and conflict management. Individuals with higher self-concept clarity were overall more active and showed more cooperative problem-solving behavior than people with low self-concept clarity. There were no relationships with contending or yielding. The positive relationship with cooperative behavior was mediated by less rumination (Study 2) and moderated by conflict intensity (Study 3). Specifically, it applied to relatively mild conflicts (Study 3). Finally, Study 4 extended these findings to the group level: Dyad members with higher self-concept clarity engaged in problem solving, whereas dyad members with lower self-concept clarity did not. We conclude that higher self-concept clarity associates with proactive problem solving in social conflict.

Psychophysiological effects of emotional dissonance in a face-to-face service interaction.

Current research demonstrates that requirements to express emotions which are not genuinely felt in the particular situation (emotional dissonance) are associated with negative long and short-term effects. The aim of the present study was to investigate: (a) the psychophysiological short-term effects of emotional dissonance in a face-to-face service interaction and (b) the moderating role of gender and neuroticism. In total, 32 women and 27 men were instructed to play the role of a service employee, who had to interact with an angry and rude customer. Half of the sample was given information that the organization expected them to be friendly (emotional dissonance), the other half was told they were expected to act naturally and show their genuine feelings (no emotional dissonance). Subjective and behavioral responses revealed that participants in the "friendly" condition modulated their emotional expressions to a greater extent than those in the "naturally" condition. Participants in the "friendly" condition showed stronger systolic and diastolic blood pressure responses. Furthermore, hierarchical regression analyses yielded that gender and neuroticism partly moderated the association between emotional dissonance and participants' psychophysiological response.

Customer-related social stressors and burnout.

Although almost all literature on burnout implicitly assumes that burnout is primarily caused by stressful employee-customer interactions, only a few studies have addressed this empirically. A principal-components analysis of a newly developed instrument assessing various forms of customer-related social stressors (CSS) in 3 different service jobs (N = 591) revealed 4 themes of CSS: disproportionate customer expectations, customer verbal aggression, disliked customers, and ambiguous customer expectations. These 4 CSS predict burnout beyond a variety of control variables. Contrary to other predictors of burnout analyzed in previous studies, the amount of variance explained in exhaustion (14%) by the 4 CSS scales is not higher than for personal accomplishment (14%) and is considerably lower than for depersonalization (23%).