Organizational Stress, Job Satisfaction and Job Performance: Where Do We Go From Here?

This article reviews and summarizes two decades of empirical literature concerned with both direct and moderating variable-based analyses of the relationship of organizational stress with job satisfaction and job performance. Moderating influences of various constructs operationalized at the individual, group and organizational level of analysis are classified and then reviewed systematically. An evaluative summary of this research suggests that although there have been significant improvements in the analytical methods employed to investigate such phenomena, much of this research still does not consider the role of reciprocal relationships that evolve over time. We provide four guidelines for improving the quality of both theoretical rigor and methodological robustness in this important area of organizational inquiry.