The consequences of collaborative overload: A long-term investigation of helping behavior

Andrea Kim, Youngsang Kim and Younsung Cho

Journal of Business Research, 2023, vol. 154, issue C

Abstract: Given the growing demand for interpersonal helping in contemporary organizations, this study proposes a mechanism and a boundary condition by which helpers incur personal and professional costs over time. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we hypothesize that job demands mediate the link between helping escalation and negative outcomes and that the resulting detrimental processes depend on organizational tenure. Our analysis of a four-wave dataset of 898 workers in a U.S. health care organization reveals that helping escalation leads to emotional exhaustion and work-to-family conflict through job demands. Furthermore, the adverse outcomes of collaborative overload are more salient among helpers with a longer tenure. Our claims and findings provide theoretical and practical implications about the rampant phenomenon of collaborative overload and its dynamics from a long-term perspective.

Keywords: Conservation of resources; Emotional exhaustion; Helping; Job demands; Organizational citizenship behavior; Turnover; Work-to-family conflict (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:154:y:2023:i:c:s014829632200813x

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113348

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