Attributions, Cognitions, and Coping Styles: Teleworkers' Reactions to Work-Related Problems

Attributions, Cognitions, and Coping Styles: Teleworkers’ Reactions to Work-Related Problems1

PAUL NORM AN^ University of Wales, Swansea, Wales

SYLVIE COLLINS AND MARK CONNER University of Leeds, Leeds, England

ROBIN MARTIN AND JAYNIE RANCE University of Wales, Swansea, Wales

Based on the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) and Lazarus and Launier’s (1978) primary-secondary appraisal theory of stress, the present study sought to examine teleworkers’ reactions to their work-related problems. The role of attributions about the sources, and cognitions about the consesquences, of these problems in promoting positive adaptation was addressed. In particular, it was predicted that teleworkers who made optimistic attributions and cognitions would be more likely to employ problem-focused coping strategies and, as a result, report more positive psychological and job-related outcomes. Based on a survey sample of 192 teleworkers, the results indicated that a tendency to engage in self-blame was related to the use of emotion-focused coping strategies. In turn, there was evidence linking emotion-focused coping strategies to negative outcomes and problem-focused coping strategies to positive outcomes. The results are discussed in relation to attributional approaches to stress which highlight the importance of cognitions about the consequences of negative events. Finally, implications for the training of teleworkers are presented.

Carrying out work at a distance from employers or contractors via the use of telecommunications is likely to become an increasing feature of working life. It has been estimated that by the middle of the current decade there could be over four million people teleworking in the UK (Stanworth & Stanworth, 1989). Advocates of teleworking cite many potential advantages. On a societal level teleworking is seen to be an answer to transport-related environmental pollution, congested cities, and the revitalization of rural areas (Collins et al., 1993; Salomon & Salomon, 1984). On an organizational level

‘This work was supported by the European Commission under the Opportunities for Rural

*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Paul Norman, Department Areas (ORA) programme (Grant No. 02004).

of Psychology, University of Wales, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales.

117

Journal ofApplied Social Psychology, 1995, 25, 2, pp. 117-128. Copyright 0 1995 by V. H. Winston 8 Son, Inc. All rights reserved.

11 8 NORMAN ET AL.

teleworking may lead to improved productivity, greater flexibility in working practices, and the maintenance of a smaller, less expensive, central office (Gordon, 1984; Kelley, 1985). For the individual, teleworking may allow greater flexibility in terms of location of work and working hours, more time with home and family and reduced travel costs (Collins et al., 1993; Kelley, 1985). However, as is the case with many technological advances the potential impact of teleworking has been overestimated; it is unlikely to be the “ second industrial revolution” (Stanworth & Stanworth, 1989). Few of the aforemen- tioned benefits which impact on quality of life are currently being realized. Furthermore, there are many barriers to the successful introduction and imple- mentation of teleworking. Among the most important are the problems encountered by individual teleworkers. A number of studies have highlighted some of these problems.

One of the major problems experienced by teleworkers is the feeling of isolation. For example, in a survey reported by Huws (1 984), 60% of respondents felt isolation to be the principal disadvantage of teleworking. Being a physically isolated teleworker is likely to reduce the amount of feedback received from supervisors, coworkers, and clients. Hamilton (1987), for example, reports that most teleworkers miss the stimulation of exchanging ideas with colleagues. Furthermore, given that communication will be mainly via telematic devices, lower quailty feedback may also follow due to reduced nonverbal cues. Other potential disadvantages of teleworking include the development of a fuzzy boundary between work and home environments, reduced potential for job enrichment, a need for considerable self-discipline, and a lack of control over the course of events at work (Shamir & Salomon, 1985).

However, as Shamir and Salomon (1985) argue, many of the negative effects of teleworking may be overcome by the use of appropriate coping strategies. If the full potential of teleworking is to be realized, it is important to understand the ways in which teleworkers may successfully cope with the problems they encounter in their work. This paper draws upon the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory (Abramson et al., 1978) and Lazarus and Launier’s (1 978) primary-secondary appraisal theory of stress to focus on the role of attributions about the causes, and cognitions about the consequences, of work-related problems and how these may be related to the affective and behavioral reactions of teleworkers.

One of the central tenets of attributional research is that the causes people give for personally relevant events have important consequences for how they react to such events. For example, in the attributional model of achievement motivation and emotion, Weiner (1 985) argues that the attributional dimensions underlying the causes people give for their performance determine their

TELEWORKERS’ REACTIONS 1 19

reactions to success and failure. Similar ideas are put forward in the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory (Abramson et al., 1978). In short, it is argued that people’s reactions to stressful or negative events are mediated by the causes they give for such events. According to Abramson et al., depressive reactions are likely to follow a negative event if it is attributed to internal, stable, and global factors.

There is good evidence linking attributions with depressive reactions (Sweeney, Anderson, & Bailey, 1986), although the application of attributional models in occupational settings has been relatively rare. Seligman and Schul- man (1986) looked at attributional style and insurance sales agents’ behavior. In a prospective study, they found that new recruits who had an optimistic attributional style (Le., the tendency to attribute the causes of negative events to external, unstable, and specific factors and the causes of positive events to internal, stable and global factors), remain in pose and, when drop-outs were excluded from the analysis, to have sold 14% more than those recruits with a pessimistic attributional style. Seligman and Schulman ( 1986) suggest that the kinds of attributions people make for work-related events may help determine their behavior. Similarly, Furnham, Sadka, and Brewin (1992) have provided evidence linking occupational attributions to job satisfaction and job commitment.

More in line with the focus of this paper, Hammen and deMayo (1 982) applied the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory to address the question of teacher stress. However, contrary to the reformulation’s predic- tions they found that attributions about the sources of teacher stress were unrelated to the experience of stress and depression; instead, cognitions about the consequences of teacher stress were more predictive, particularly the experience of a lack of control over dealing with factors that are seen to make the job stressful. This suggests that cognitions about coping may have an important role to play in people’s reactions to stressful events inasmuch as they may encourage perception of control over the environment and may so lead actions to rectify the situation. Such a position is in line with Lazarus and Launier’s (1 978) primary-secondary appraisal theory of stress.

According to Lazarus and colleagues (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Lazarus & Launier, 1978), when individuals are confronted by new or changing environments they engage in a cognitive process, known as primary appraisal, to determine whether the event has positive, neutral, or negative implications. For negative events, individuals then assess the extent to which their coping abili- ties or resources are sufficient to meet the implications of the event. This process of comparison is known as secondary appraisal. Lazarus outlines two broad types of coping strategies which people may employ in response to negative or stressful events. Problem-focused coping refers to efforts to deal

120 NORMAN ET AL.

with the threat of the stressor itself (e.g., exerting effort to remove or circum- vent the stressor), while emotion-focused coping refers to efforts to control or regulate emotional responses to the stressful situations (e.g., attempting to deny the reality of the event). Evidence suggests that, in general, problem-focused coping is associated with more positive outcomes in terms of both physical and psychological symptom reporting (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985).

Applying both the attributional and stress literatures to the teleworking context, it was possible to outline relationships between the ways in which teleworkers respond to their work-related problems and a range of psychological and job-related outcomes. First, it was predicted that teleworkers who made optimistic attributions and cognitions for work-related problems would report more postive outcomes. Second, it was predicted that teleworkers who tended to employ problem-focused coping strategies would report more positive outcomes. Third, a link was predicted between teleworkers’ attributions and cognitions about their work-related problems and the coping strategies which they typically employ, with those teleworkers making more optimistic attributions and cognitions being more likely to engage in problem-focused coping strategies.

Method

Participants

The sample consisted of 192 teleworkers who were obtained through a number of sources, including: the European Community Teleworking Forum, the National Telework Association (UK) and Acre (a rural communities char- ity). The teleworkers completed an in-depth questionnaire in return for a El0 voucher. The sample consisted of 105 men and 87 women, with a mean age of 38.5 years. The occupational status of the sample was heterogeneous, with people working in a range of occupations including publishing, engineering consultancy, sales and marketing, computer programming, and education. In addition, the sample included part-time, full-time, employed, and freelance teleworkers who were in receipt of monthly salaries, hourly rates, and piece rates.

Measures

The measures used in the present study represent part of a larger questionnaire which was sent to teleworkers covering a number of telework-related issues. The specific measures relevant here are described below.

Respondents were asked to consider how they viewed the causes and

TELEWORKERS’ REACTIONS 121

consequences of their work-related stressors in general, rating these on a number of dimensions. Based on the work of Peterson et al., (1982), Weiner (1983, and Furnham et al. (1992), 8 attributional items were employed focusing on internality, externality, chance, stability, globality, internal controllability, external controllability, and uniqueness. Five items were used to assess respondents cognitions about the consequences of work-related stressors. Taken from Hammen and colleagues work (Gong-Guy & Hammen, 1980; Hammen & Cochran, 1981; Hammen & DeMayo, 1982) these items focused on the extent to which the consequences were seen to be upsetting, important, controllable, stable, and likely to lead to uncertainty. All items were scored on 7-point response scales.

In order to reduce the number of items to be used in the subsequent analyses, a principal components analysis was employed which resulted in the construc- tion of two reliable scales. The first was a four item scale focusing on the teleworkers’ attributions about the causes of their work-related stressors made along an internal-external dimension. The items included in the scale were: “To what extent are the causes due to something about you?” (not at all due to me, totally due to me), “To what extent are the causes controllable by you?” (not at all controllable by me, totally controllable by to me), “TO what extent are the causes due to something do with other people or circumstances?” (not at all due to other people or circumstances, totally due to other people or circumstances), and “TO what extent are the causes controllable by other people?” (not at all controllable by other people, totally controllable by other people). Responses to the first two items were reverse coded so that low scores on the scale indicated internal attributions and high scores indicated external attributions. Coefficient alpha for the scale was .6 1. The second scale consisted of three items focusing on the teleworkers’ cognitions about the consequences of their work-related stressors. The items in the scale were: “How much uncertainty do you experience in your life as a result of these events?” (no uncertainy, a lot of uncertainty), “How important are these events to you when they happen?” (not at all important, very important), “HOW upset are you about these events when they happen?” (not at all upset, very upset). Coefficient alpha for the scale was .68.

The COPE measures the coping strategies which are typically employed in response to stressors (Carver et al., 1989). For the purposes of the present study, 30 items from the COPE were employed, and respondents were asked to indicate on a four point scale how often they used each strategy in response to stressful events in their work. Through principal components analysis it was possible to construct two coping scales; one with five items measuring problem-focused strategies (e.g., I make a plan of action, I think about how I might best handle the problem, a =.73) and the other with six items measuring

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emotion-focused strategies (e.g., I use alcohol or drugs to make me feel better, I give up the attempt to get what I want, a =.78).

The short 12-item version of the GHQ was employed to measure psychological well-being (Goldberg, 1978). Respondents were presented with 12 symptoms (e.g., felt constantly under strain, been feeling unhappy and depressed) and asked to indicate how much they had experienced the feeling over the past few weeks on a four point response scale. Responses were reverse coded so that high scores indicated positive well-being. Coefficient alpha for the GHQ was .87.

Job-related well-being was measured by asking respondents to indicate on six point response scales the extent to which their job made them experience different feelings over the past few weeks (e.g., worried, relaxed, depressed, optimistic; Warr et al., 1990). A 12 item scale was constructed, with high scores indicating positive job-related well-being (a = .89).

Job satisfaction was measured by asking respondents to indicate on seven point response scales the extent to which they were satisfied or dissatisfied with fourteen different aspects of their jobs (e.g., your freedom to choose your own method of working, your pay; Warr, Cook, & Wall, 1979). Coefficient alpha for the job satisfaction scale was .89. High scores indicated high levels of job satisfaction.

Results

Reactions to Teleworking

Table 1 reports the Ms, SD, and intercorrelations of all the study variables. A number of significant correlations emerged between the predictor variables under consideration and the various outcome measures. In relation to the GHQ, teleworkers reporting poorer psychological well-being, were more likely to perceive the consequences of their work-related stressors to be important, and were more likely to engage in emotion-focused coping strategies. Turning to job-related well-being, those teleworkers who reported positive well-being were less likely to perceive the consequences of their stressors to be important, less likely to engage in emotion-focused coping stategies, and more likely to engage in problem-focused coping strategies. Finally, teleworkers who reported being satisfied with their jobs were less likely to perceive the consequences of their work-related stressors as being important, less likely to engage in emotion-focused coping strategies and more likely to engage in problem-focused strategies.

In the next stage of the analysis, multiple linear regression analyses were performed on each of the outcome variables using the four predictor variables under consideration (i.e., internal-external attributions, cognitions about


Table 1

Reactions to Teleworking: Means, Standard Deviations, and Zero Order Correlations

Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 M S D

1 . Psychological 1.94

2. Job-related -.64*** 3.08

3. Job -.44***.53*** 3.76

4. Emotion-focused -. 18* -.21** -.22** 1.52

5. Problem-focused .12 .20** .33*** -.33*** 3.11

6. Internal-external -.01 .02 .02 -.22** -.02 4.38

7. Consequences -.27 -.35***.13 .02 .01 -.07 4.52

well-being

well-being

satisfaction

coping

coping

attributions

cognitions

.43

.79

.99

.53

.54

.87

1.12

Note. Nvaries 166-186. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

consequences, emotion-focused coping strategies, problem-focused coping strategies). As can be seen from Table 2, these four variables were able to account for between 10% and 16% of the variance in the outcome measures. The specific predictors, to a large extent, mirrored those found in the correla- tional analyses. Cognitions about the consequences of work-related stressors were related to psychological and job-related well-being. The employment of emotion-focused coping strategies also emerged as a significant predictor of psychological and job-related well-being; while the employment of problem- focused strategies predicted job satisfaction.

Coping Strategies

In order to examine the relationship between perceptions of the causes and consequences of work-related stressors and the coping strategies employed by teleworkers, the correlations between these variables were considered

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Table 2

Reactions to Teleworking: Multiple Regressions Cp Values)

Dependent variables

Predictor Psychological Job-related Job variables well-being well-being satisfaction

COPE Emotion -.20* -. 18* -.15 Problem .06 .13 .28***

Attributions

Cognitions Internal-external -.08 -.06 -.04

Consequences -.28*** -.35*** -.12

R2 .10 .16 .12

Note. N varies 166- 186. *p < .05. ***p < .001.

(Table 1). Only one significant correlation was found, showing that those teleworkers who tended to blame themselves for their work-related stressors were more likely to engage in emotion-focused coping strategies.

Discussion

The present study sought to examine teleworkers’ perceptions of their work-related problems and the extent to which they may be related to various behavioral and affective reactions. In particular it was predicted that those making optimistic attributions and cognitions about such events would be more likely to engage in problem-focused coping strategies and to report better psychological and job-related outcomes.

Considering the relationships between the teleworkers’ attributions and cognitions for their work-related problems and the outcome measures under consideration, it was found that attributions regarding the causes of work-related problems were unrelated to these variables. These results are therefore in line with Hammen and DeMayo’s (1982) earlier study looking at teacher stress and suggest that the attributions people give for work-related


problems or stressors may be relatively unimportant in determining psychological well-being.

In contrast, cognitions about the consequences of such stressors were found to be related to the outcome measures. The experience of work-related problems which were seen to have important consequences was related to poorer psychological and job-related well-being. These results coincide with Wortman and Dintzer’s (1978) assertion that cognitions about one’s ability to cope with the consequences of stressful events are likely to be more important than one’s attributions about the causes of such events, and are consistent with Lazarus and Laurnier’s (1 978) primary-secondary appraisal theory of stress.

It was argued earlier that individuals’ attributions and cognitions about stressful events may be linked to the coping strategies they employ, which in turn may determine positive adaptation. For example, if a teleworker believes that the causes of a work-related problem are modifiable and that shehe has control over dealing with the consequences, then it follows that the teleworker is likely to engage in problem-focused activities in order to deal with the situation. This proposition was tested by examining the relationships between teleworkers’ attributions and cognitions about work-related problems and the coping strategies they typically employ in response to such problems. It was found that those teleworkers who perceived the causes of their work-related problems to be due to, and controllable by, themselves were more likely to engage in emotion-focused coping strategies, such as drinking alcohol and denial of the problem. This suggests that teleworkers who in some way felt responsible for their work-related problems were more likely to engage in nonadaptive activities.

The employment of emotion-focused coping strategies was found to be related to poorer psychological and job-related well-being, thus suggesting that the adoption of such strategies is unlikely to lead to positive adaptation. In contrast, the employment of problem-focused coping strategies was related to higher job satisfaction. These results therefore mirror those of earlier studies which have linked problem-focused coping strategies with positive outcomes (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985). Engaging in activities which are likely to eradicate the source or the impact of work-related problems is clearly a more effective adaptive response than employing emotion-focused coping strategies.

Overall, the variables under consideration were able to explain up to 16% of the variance in the outcome variables, suggesting that these variables are important when considering how individuals respond and adapt to negative or stressful events. In terms of the attributional theories of depression, they confirm the views of other workers in the field (Hammen & DeMayo, 1982; Wortman & Dintzer, 1978) that it is necessary to consider individuals’ cognitions about the consequences of such events. This idea has recently been

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incorporated in Abramson et al.’s (1 989) hopelessness theory of depression. The present results are also important inasmuch as they provide a link between attributional approaches to depression and Lazarus and Launier’s (1978) primary-secondary appraisal theory of stress. They show the extent to which coping strategies are linked to positive and negative adaptation and also show how certain attributions may be linked to the adoption of certain coping strategies. However, the present conclusions should be made with some caution as the data are cross-sectional in nature. As a result, it may equally be the case that teleworkers who are satisfied with their jobs are more likely to employ active coping strategies when they experience problems at work. Clearly lon- gitudinal studies are required to tease out the causal direction of the relationships found in this study.

In conclusion, the present results have a number of implications for teleworkers which may also be extended to other occupational groups. It can be seen how teleworkers’ perceptions of the causes and consequences of their work-related problems have important implications for how they respond to such problems both on a behavioral level (e.g., coping strategies employed) and, in turn, on an affective level (e.g., psychological well-being). Teleworkers who attribute the causes of their work-related problems internally are likely to engage in nonadaptive activities and as a result experience negative psychological reactions to teleworking. Teleworkers should therefore be encouraged to avoid internalizing the causes of their work-related problems. The avoidance of such a way of attributing work-related problems could be encouraged in any training teleworkers are given before they commence teleworking. Part of this training should outline the kinds of problems teleworkers are likely to encounter and emphasize that when they do occur they are not typically due to shortcomings of the individual teleworker. Coupled with this, teleworkers also need to be shown ways in which they can overcome the consequences of the problems they encounter, as problem-focused coping strategies were related to positive outcomes. This suggests a need for teleworkers to be given training in how to solve or overcome the common stresses and problems encountered in their work. In doing so, this may induce feelings of control and lessen the negative impact of such problems. Such an approach may help teleworkers and their employers to realize the many potential benefits of teleworking.

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Attributions, Cognitions, and Coping Styles: Teleworkers' Reactions to Work-Related Problems

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