Helping May Be Harming: Unintended Negative Consequences of Providing Social Support

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gray CE ; Jacobsen ST ; Lacey KN ; Spector PE ; Taylor MR ; Young BG
• Description:
  While social support is generally considered a helpful resource for employees, it can also serve as a job stressor. Unhelpful workplace social support (UWSS) is any action taken by a supervisor and/or colleague that the recipient believes was intended to benefit him or her but is perceived as unhelpful or harmful. Two studies, one qualitative and one quantitative, identified types of UWSS and demonstrated that unhelpful support can operate as a job stressor in relating to strains. In Study 1, critical incidents were collected from 116 employees, and a content analysis revealed 11 distinct categories of UWSS. In Study 2, the taxonomy of UWSS was further refined using quantitative methods. Results of two samples (176 diverse employees and 496 registered nurses) demonstrate that UWSS is associated with higher job-related negative affect, lower competence-based self-esteem, lower coworker satisfaction, higher work-related burnout, higher organisational frustration, and more physical symptoms (e.g. headache, nausea, and fatigue) among recipients. Together, the studies demonstrate that unhelpful workplace social support is a meaningful job stressor worthy of further investigation. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Social Support Employee Satisfaction Job Stress Mental Health Occupational Psychology Psychological Effects Qualitative Methods Scale Development
• ISSN:
  0267-8373
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Oregon ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  359-385
• Volume:
  34
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20068471
• Citation:
  Work Stress 2020 Oct; 34(4):359-385
• Contact Point Address:
  Cheryl E. Gray, Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa
• Email:
  cgray14@mail.usf.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• Performing Organization:
  Sunshine Education and Research Center, University of South Florida
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Work and Stress
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:616df603a56267d523776e919c4fb4e175d153eadfd290751489a2b24658f870b3e1a1b263b7ee7b285fe86e09c15532dc599a6c28c57f7b775f28ff1e365343
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/207089/cdc_207089_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.99 MB ]