Integration Between “Subjective” and “Intersubjective” Measures for the Assessment of Work-related Stress Risk

This study aims to address the issues of negative affectivity (NA) and common method variance in relation to the exclusive use of self-report measures for evaluating work stress. In particular, it has two main objectives: (a) evaluating the role of NA in the assessment of work stress; (b) verifying the efficacy of an integrated approach that combines self- and hetero-evaluation for assessing work stress. Two instruments were administered to 1750 workers of a services organization: the Qu-Bo Test, for workers’ self-evaluation of both stressors and strain, and the V.I.S. Method for the hetero-evaluation of risk factors by the organization’s stakeholders, including the occupational physician. Results show that NA moderates the relationship between the Interpersonal Conflict risk factor and work stress in terms of Cardiovascular Symptoms and Job Satisfaction. High NA workers display higher Cardiovascular Symptoms associated with an increase in Interpersonal Conflict, while low NA individuals present lower Job Satisfaction in case of higher Interpersonal Conflict. With reference to the second objective, results show that the integrated approach allows prediction of job satisfaction, proving its superiority over self-evaluation, as it can contain both common method variance and NA.