Helpful boss, healthy worker? The effects of supervisory support on stress.

Organisational surveys and experimental studies were conducted to investigate the effects of work design (primarily demands, control and social supports) on stress and performance. A computer simulation of mail-sorting was used for the experimental studies. Across four studies, all three work design factors influenced stress, and social support also increased task satisfaction. When social support was split into specific elements (such as emotional or informational support), the effects were greatly reduced. A two-stage study of local government employees found that social supports predicted job satisfaction and employee self-reports of job performance. Curiously, social supports were found to be counterproductive in highly demanding environments. The findings broadly confirm models of stress by Karasek (1979) and Johnson and Hall's (1988), but not the interactions predicted in these models. In particular, social supports did not interact with demands or control to influence stress, satisfaction or performance in either research domain. There was also a suggestion that stress and performance may be influenced by person-environment fit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]