Negative Affectivity and Common Method Variance in Work-Related Stress Assessment: The Role of an Integrated Approach.

Traditionally, work-related stress risk assessment is based on subjective measures for detecting both risk factors and consequences in terms of strain. However, literature identified two major problems related to the exclusive use of self-report measures, namely the influences of negative affectivity and common method variance. Therefore, several authors suggest to assess risk factors integrating workers’ perceptions with superior’s evaluations. The present study aims to: evaluate whether negative affectivity moderates the relationship between perceived risk factors and work stress; whether an integrated approach combining self and hetero-evaluation better predicts work stress. In a sample of about 2,000 employees in Italy, a tool for self evaluation (Qu-BO) and one of hetero evaluation (V.I.S. Method) were used. Results show that negative affectivity moderates the relationship between self-evaluation of risk factors and perceived work stress. The possibility of integrating self-and hetero evaluation of risk factors to better predict work stress also emerges.