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We examined how Conservation of Resources (COR) theory has been applied to work and stress in organizational settings. COR theory has drawn increasing interest in the organizational literature. It is both a stress and motivational theory that outlines how individuals and organizations are likely to be impacted by stressful circumstances, what those stressful circumstances are likely to be, and how individuals and organizations act in order to garner and protect their resources. To date, individual studies and meta-analyses have found COR theory to be a major explanatory model for understanding the stress process at work. Applications of COR theory to burnout, respite, and preventive intervention were detailed. Studies have shown that resource loss is a critical component of the stress process in organizations and that limiting resource loss is a key to successful prevention and post-stress intervention. Applications for future work, moving COR theory to the study of the acquisition, maintenance, fostering, and protection of key resources was discussed.

Increasing digitization has transformed ways of work in modern age. Organizations are increasingly relying on global virtual teams (GVTs) as new forms of working. However, the challenges of configuration of GVTs have been reported to reduce the levels of employee engagement, especially so in multicultural GVTs. Extant research indicates cultural intelligence as one of the drivers of employee engagement in GVTs, though the nature of this relationship has remained unclear. As there is scarce literature on the nature of this relationship, the purpose of this paper is to examine the linkages between cultural intelligence and employee engagement and the authors explain the findings using the identity lens.

This study is an ethnographic inquiry to understand the nature of the relationship between cultural intelligence and employee engagement.

The results of the study indicate that the inclusionary pressures of non-work identities (national culture) are high in context of GVTs owing to their configuration. However, preferences (alignment or misalignment) of team members either initiate gain cycles or loss cycles, thus effecting the levels of employee engagement. Further, it was found that individual preferences may dynamically change from misalignment toward alignment with improved levels of cultural intelligence among team members of GVTs. The relationship between cultural intelligence and employee engagement has been found to be mediated by trust among team members in GVTs.

This is one of the first papers to understand the dynamics of this relationship in an organizational GVT context. The authors also propose a unique framework combining cultural intelligence, trust and employee engagement in the context of GVTs.

In response to the lack of connection between employee development and employee engagement, this study explores the existing empirical findings regarding these two concepts. Based on the conservation of resources theory, the authors propose a novel theoretical framework that can better leverage the identified antecedents and relationships for future research.

An integrative literature review of 64 empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals was conducted.

Three different levels of antecedents, including the work environment, social exchange and individual characteristics, are identified. Employee development and employee engagement exhibit reciprocal relationships. Considering the role of job performance as a catalyst, the authors propose an upward gain spiral model to advance both research and practice.

This integrative literature review aims to facilitate discussions based on three distinct sub-dimensions: physical, emotional and cognitive energies, relevant to both employee development and employee engagement. Through this distinction, a more comprehensive understanding of the connection between employee development and employee engagement can be cultivated.

In this chapter, we discuss the impact of business trips on travelers and their families from the perspective of respite, thus embedding business trips in stress theories. We begin by reviewing the literature on respite and recovery. Focusing on the role of travelers’ resources, we relate the phenomenon of business trips to conservation of resources (COR) and job demands-resource (JD-R) theories. We then discuss the negative and positive characteristics and outcomes of business trips. We offer evidence from interviews with business travelers regarding the special characteristics and consequences of business trips. We summarize by addressing the question of whether business trips are a special kind of respite.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating roles of four aspects of work and family interface (WFI: work-to-family conflict, WFC; family-to-work conflict, FWC; work-to-family enrichment, WFE; and family-to-work enrichment, FWE) in a Chinese context in Taiwan. Included in the integral model are demands and resources from the work and family domains as antecedents, and role satisfaction and burnout as consequences.

Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 499 full-time working Chinese parents in Taiwan.

Structural equation modeling results showed that antecedents had cross-domain and within-domain effects on all aspects of the WFI; and conflict and enrichment also had cross-domain and within-domain effects on job satisfaction and family satisfaction, while influences from the work domain (WFC and WFE) had a significant impact on burnout. Overall, the partial mediation model was supported, showing that antecedent variables having both indirect (through the WFI variables) as well as direct relationships with the outcome variables.

This is the first study testing a comprehensive model of the whole loop of antecedents-WFI-consequences with a non-Western sample. One unique contribution of the study is that the authors extended Western-based resources theories to Chinese employees, confirming that all four aspects of the WFI are important mediators linking up antecedents with consequences from both the work and family domains. Basing upon the findings, the authors suggests that both managers and employees should endeavor to break the destructive flow of conflict→dissatisfaction/burnout and to initiate the constructive flow of enrichment→satisfaction/free of burnout, by considering not only demands but also resources from both the work and family domains.

Several job characteristics have been suggested to influence workers’ well-being. For example, Herzberg (1968) differentiated job characteristics that offset dissatisfaction such as social relations from job aspects that foster job satisfaction such as opportunities for advancement. While Hackman and Oldham (1976) focused on the motivational potential of job characteristics such as task identity and feedback, Karasek (1979) accentuated time pressure as a pivotal job demand. Together these models point out that various job characteristics may influence workers’ functioning.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between employee sensitivity to terrorism (STT), employee psychological well-being (EPW) and the mediating role of employee psychological resilience (EPR) for both male and female employees in an environment characterized by discontinuous terrorist incidents.

The study uses data collected from a sample of 432 university employees working in geographic areas impacted by discontinuous terrorist incidents. The study is cross-sectional.

Study findings reveal a significant relationship between employee STT and EPW. EPR mediated the impact of STT on EPW. Multigroup analysis highlighted significant causal order differences in STT between male and female employees. Females scored higher on STT.

Findings highlight important implications for organizational practitioners. Because STT leads to EPW and differs for males and females, practitioners should consider group differences when selecting interventions to enhance psychological resilience. Organizations should use customized training programs and development interventions to enhance psychological well-being.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is one of the few studies to investigate the relationship between STT and EPW and compare male and female employees. The study generates new insights into the experiences of male and female employees working in terrorist-ridden areas.

The purpose of this paper is to test the gain and loss cycle ideas from the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory with regard to perceived employability and psychological functioning among employed workers and unemployed job seekers, respectively.

More specifically, the authors argue that perceived employability may trigger a gain cycle toward well-being among employed workers (H1), while ill-being may trigger a loss cycle toward reduced (perceived) employability among unemployed job seekers (H2). The authors test these ideas with cross-lagged analysis.

Results confirm the hypotheses: perceived employability at Time 1 positively affects well-being at Time 2 among employed workers and ill-being at Time 1 negatively impacts perceived employability at Time 2 among unemployed job seekers.

Future research should study the gain and loss cycles with more than two waves of data as this allows for a more adequate test of these ideas.

As for practitioners, the results suggest that investing in the worker’s perceived employability by offering training, career counseling, and networking opportunities, pays off as it promotes the employee’s psychological functioning. With regard to unemployed job seekers the authors advise investing in psychological counseling: the unemployed job seeker will be more able to invest in a job search, and hence perceive employability if helped in coping with job loss.

This study offers a new perspective on the relationship between perceived employability and psychological functioning by involving the principles of COR theory, in particular the gain and loss cycles.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Using the job demands-resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical framework, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how job demands and job resources affect older employees’ desired retirement age, through an energy-depletion and a motivational process. Furthermore, the importance of gain and loss cycles (i.e. recursive effects) for the desired retirement age was investigated.

A two wave full panel design with 2,897 older employees ( > 50) served to test the hypotheses. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the measurement and research model. Cross-lagged analyses tested the presence of gain and loss cycles.

Results from cross-lagged analyses based on two waves over a one-year period indicated the presence of both a gain and a loss cycle that affected the desired retirement age.

This is the first longitudinal study applying the JD-R model to a retirement context. Limitations relate to employing only two waves for establishing mediation, and using self-reports.

Because work conditions can create a cycle of motivation as well as a cycle of depletion, organizations should pay special attention to the job resources and demands of older workers. The findings can inspire organizations when developing active aging policies, and contribute to interventions aimed at maintaining older employees within the workforce until – or even beyond – their official retirement age in a motivated and healthy way.

This is the first longitudinal study applying the JD-R model to a retirement context and finding evidence for gain and loss cycles.