Elsevier

Journal of Retailing

Volume 85, Issue 2, June 2009, Pages 194-205
Journal of Retailing

Role Stressors and Retail Performance: The Role of Perceived Competitive Climate

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2009.02.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Cognitive appraisal theory is used to investigate the influence of perceived competitive climate in the retail store upon the relationship between three role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity, role conflict, and family–work conflict) and job efficacy, job satisfaction, and the self- and supervisor-rated performance of retail professionals. Results indicate that the effect of role ambiguity on job efficacy is moderated by perceived competitive climate, such that the harmful effect of role ambiguity is lessened when competitive climate is high, thus highlighting a potential benefit of stress reduction through an increase in perceptions of competitive climate. In addition, the influence of job satisfaction on supervisor ratings of performance is moderated by perceived competitive climate, such that higher levels of job satisfaction result in improved supervisor ratings when the competitive climate is perceived to be high.

Section snippets

Background

Role stress research in marketing shares its conceptualization with the seminal work by Kahn et al. (1964). The focus of much of the empirical research in marketing has been upon role conflict and ambiguity as primary representations of role stress. While the framework does not assess the mental health of an organizational member directly, it does highlight the need to consider the individual's perception of his/her environment, and its associated effect, when considering the attitudinal and

Stressors, job efficacy, satisfaction, and performance

In total, the deleterious effects of stressors (RC, RA, and FWC) on important outcomes, such as job satisfaction, job efficacy and performance, are well-established in the retailing literature (Bettencourt and Brown 2003; Boles, Wood, and Johnson 2003; Netemeyer, Brashear-Alejandro, and Boles 2004) and will not be revisited here as formal hypotheses. Similarly, the positive effect of job efficacy on job satisfaction is also understood (Piccolo et al. 2005). In line with this research, we expect

Methods

Data were collected from a national sample of retail store employees of a large U.S.-based retailer that has a single, broad-based product line and targets both consumer and commercial customers. This organization was chosen because it provided two equally important aspects for our research: (1) the opportunity to match employee responses to supervisor evaluations and (2) substantial variability in responses to our independent variables due to expected store-to-store variation in management

Results

Confirmatory factor analysis of the measurement model resulted in marginal fit indices (χ2 = 1331.7, df = 474, p < .001), CFI = .89, TLI = .87, and RMSEA = .070). Analysis revealed cross-loadings among a number of the items. As a result, one item was removed from each of the following scales: family conflict, RA, RC, competitive climate, and job efficacy. The fit indices of the revised model were satisfactory (χ2 = 874.5, df = 329, p < .001), CFI = .92, TLI = .90, and RMSEA = .067). Composite reliabilities (rxx > .70)

Discussion and implications

The present research investigates the moderating influence of perceived competitive climate upon the effects of three role stressors (RC, RA, and FWC) on perceptions of job efficacy, job satisfaction, self-performance ratings, and supervisor performance ratings among retail employees. The results partially supported the hypotheses. The first hypothesis proposed that employee perceptions of the organization's competitive climate would moderate the relationship between role stressors and job

Limitations and future research

An interesting question concerns why perceived competitive climate failed to moderate the effects of RC and FWC on job efficacy. It appears that while a competitive climate lessens the impact of role ambiguity (which is, as discussed above, important to job efficacy), role conflict and family–work conflict tend to have effects that are invariant to the competitive nature of the workplace. One potential reason for this could be that ambiguity can be dealt with by purposeful action (i.e.,

Conclusion

A cohesive, theory-based investigation of the influence of a competitive in-store climate upon the effects of role stressors on job efficacy, job satisfaction, and the self-rated and supervisor-rated performance of retail employees was presented in this research. Based upon the study's findings, the environment in which retail employees operate significantly influences both employee attitudes (i.e., job efficacy and satisfaction) as well as behaviors (i.e., performance) resulting from potential

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank Greg Marshall and Tom Brown for their assistance in obtaining the data for the study. We also are grateful for the helpful comments of the Editors and three anonymous reviewers.

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