Stress and organizational role conflict

In this study the research on role conflict and coping is integrated with more traditional lines of stress research. It is argued that, because role stress is generated by certain characteristics of a person's environment, coping with role stress is likely to be directed toward those environmental characteristics. The literatures on stress, role conflict, and coping are reviewed. The following conclusions are theorized: (a) The relation between role conflict and role stress is moderated by the strain existing within a person's social network; (b) this strain is produced by two factors, the perceived power of the role sender and the importance of the sender's expectations to the focal person; (c) the relation between role stress and role distress (felt emotional discomfort) is moderated by several personality characteristics; (d) the relation between role distress and coping (actual behavior aimed at reducing distress) is moderated by both individual-level and situational-level factors; (e) the relation between coping and strain can be reciprocal. The need for longitudinal, reciprocal studies of stress, distress, and coping, and for occupationally, and even organizationally, specific models of stress, is also emphasized (Bacharach & Bamberger, 1992).