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The Dark Side of Helping: Does Returning the Favor from Coworkers Hurt Employee Work Engagement?

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Abstract

This study investigated the potential "dark side" of helping behavior at work -- operationalized as provision of social support to coworkers. Drawing from the emotional contagion literature and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, we proposed and tested a moderated mediational model to examine the mechanisms by which social support received from one's coworkers contribute to the support recipient's work engagement. Employing data from a 12-week-long weekly diary among 142 acute care nurses, we did not find support for the proposed negative relationship between providing social support to coworkers and support providers' work engagement, nor for the overall mediational effect of the relationship between received coworker support and work engagement through support provision. However, we found that some work contextual factors (i.e., stable social support climates from coworkers and supervisors) moderated the weekly processes through which nurses' repaying social support received from coworkers predicts their subsequent work engagement. Specifically, providing support to coworkers had stronger beneficial effects on providers' engagement when coworker/supervisor support climates were relatively low; support received from coworkers had stronger indirect beneficial effects on nurses' engagement when coworker/supervisor support climates were relatively low. Our study findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between social support dynamics and work engagement, and that emotional contagion and COR theory may be insufficient, on their own, to explain social support dynamics between coworkers. We also discuss implications of the findings for managerial practices related to support dynamics at work.

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Notes

  1. As part of the larger project, additional waves of data were collected. However, for the purposes of the current study, we only refer to matched data from time 1 and the weekly data. More information, including a technical report, is available at the project website http://www.oregonnursesfoundation.org/research/nursing-practice-research/the-oregon-nurse-retention-project/.

  2. Through probing regions of significance (Preacher et al., 2006), we found that for coworker support climate, the simple slope was positive and significant when the climate was 2.1 or more SD below the mean, and for supervisor support climate, the simple slope was positive and significant when the climate was .58 or more SD below the mean, and was negative and significant when the climate was 1 or more SD above the mean.

  3. Detailed results from these models were not reported in tables, in the interest of not further lengthening the manuscript.

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Funding

Portions of this research were supported by the Northwest Health Foundation Grant #14180, awarded to Portland State University, and the Grant # T03OH008435 awarded to Portland State University—funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of Northwest Health Foundation, NIOSH, CDC, or HHS.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR, 97207, USA

    Liu-Qin Yang & Cynthia Mohr

  2. FurstPerson, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA

    Michael Sliter

  3. Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA

    Janelle H. Cheung & Robert R. Sinclair

  4. Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Janelle H. Cheung

Authors
  1. Liu-Qin Yang
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  2. Michael Sliter
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  3. Janelle H. Cheung
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liu-Qin Yang.

Appendix Measures of All Focal Study Variables

Appendix Measures of All Focal Study Variables

Weekly scales (“in the past week” was used in the scale instructions):

  • Support Receipt

  1. 1.

    Other nurses shared knowledge with me about nursing practice.

  2. 2.

    Another nurse helped me when I really needed it.

  3. 3.

    A coworker taught me effective ways to deal with people.

  4. 4.

    My coworker taught me an effective technique or strategy.

  • Support Provision

  1. 1.

    I shared knowledge about nursing practice with a coworker.

  2. 2.

    I helped a fellow nurse when s/he needed me.

  3. 3.

    I responded to the emotional needs of a fellow worker.

  • Work Engagement

  1. 1.

    I was enthusiastic about my job.

  2. 2.

    My job inspired me.

  3. 3.

    I was proud of the work that I did.

  4. 4.

    At my work, I felt bursting with energy.

  5. 5.

    At my job, I felt strong and vigorous.

  6. 6.

    When I got up in the morning, I felt like going to work.

  7. 7.

    I felt happy when I was working intensely.

  8. 8.

    I was immersed in my work.

  9. 9.

    I was absorbed in my work.

Baseline scales:

  • Work Method Autonomy

  1. 1.

    I can decide what methods I use to complete my work.

  2. 2.

    I have independence and freedom in how I do my work.

  3. 3.

    I can decide how to go about doing my work.

  • General Coworker Support

  1. 1.

    My coworkers strongly consider my goals and values.

  2. 2.

    My coworkers really care about my well-being.

  3. 3.

    My coworkers care about my opinion.

  4. 4.

    My coworkers would ignore any complaint from me. (R)

  • General Supervisor Support

  1. 1.

    My manager strongly considers my goals and values.

  2. 2.

    My manager really cares about my well-being.

  3. 3.

    My manager cares about my opinion.

  4. 4.

    My manager would ignore any complaint from me. (R)

(R) indicates items to reverse code.

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Yang, LQ., Sliter, M., Cheung, J. et al. The Dark Side of Helping: Does Returning the Favor from Coworkers Hurt Employee Work Engagement?. J Bus Psychol 33, 741–760 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-017-9522-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-017-9522-9

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