“Under Pressure”

Workplace stress is a significant and growing challenge in organisational life. It not only affects the health and well-being of employees but also shapes the dynamics of supervisory relationships and long-term career outcomes. In their 2024 article, Erdogan, Bauer, Eisenberger, and Chen explore this issue in depth by analysing how employees’ stress levels influence their ability to receive supervisory mentoring and, in turn, how this mentoring affects their career trajectories. Their research offers a nuanced perspective on the interplay between psychological strain, engagement, mentoring, and career success.

Background and theoretical framework

The authors begin by addressing a key paradox: while mentoring is widely recognised as beneficial for career development, not all employees receive equal support from their supervisors. Erdogan et al. suggest that one overlooked factor influencing this discrepancy is employee work stress. High stress, they argue, may interfere with the mentoring relationship, not because supervisors are unwilling to help, but because stress alters how employees present themselves and engage with their work environment.

The theoretical backbone of the study integrates conservation of resources (COR) theory and social exchange theory. COR theory posits that stress depletes individuals’ psychological and emotional resources, making it harder for them to invest in relationships, including those with mentors. Simultaneously, social exchange theory suggests that relationships, including those at work, are built on reciprocal investment. When a stressed employee is perceived as disengaged or emotionally unavailable, this may reduce the supervisor’s willingness to provide mentoring.

Research design

To test their hypotheses, the authors conducted three studies in culturally diverse settings: the United States, China, and Turkey. This multi-sample design increased the generalizability of their findings and allowed them to examine whether the proposed relationships held across different work cultures.

Participants in each study completed surveys measuring perceived work stress, engagement, supervisory mentoring support, career satisfaction, and promotability. Supervisors also rated their employees’ promotability and engagement, allowing for cross-validation of self-report data.

The authors employed structural equation modelling to test a series of mediation and moderation models. They focused on whether stress predicted lower levels of mentoring support, whether this effect was mediated by reduced employee engagement, and how this ultimately influenced career satisfaction and promotability.

Key findings

Across all three studies, the results consistently supported the central hypothesis: employee work stress negatively impacts the receipt of supervisory mentoring support. When employees experienced higher stress levels, they were less likely to receive mentoring from their supervisors.

Crucially, the authors found that this relationship was mediated by employee engagement. Stress led to disengagement, which then reduced the likelihood of supervisors offering mentoring. In turn, lower mentoring predicted poorer career outcomes—specifically, reduced satisfaction with one’s career path and lower ratings of promotability by supervisors.

Interestingly, the authors did not find significant cultural differences in these effects. While the strength of some relationships varied slightly by country, the overall pattern held true across all contexts. This indicates that the negative impact of stress on mentoring and career success is a cross-cultural phenomenon.

Discussion

This study contributes to both stress and mentoring literature in several significant ways. First, it challenges the assumption that mentoring availability is driven solely by supervisors. Instead, it shows that employee behaviour, shaped by internal states like stress, also plays a critical role in initiating and maintaining mentoring relationships.

Second, it identifies employee engagement as a key mechanism that links stress to mentoring outcomes. The engagement an employee feels toward their work is often seen as a byproduct of organisational culture or leadership. Here, it is positioned as a mediating variable that explains how internal stress disrupts external support.

Third, the study cohesively integrates multiple theoretical frameworks, showing how psychological strain (from COR theory) interacts with social behaviours (from social exchange theory) to influence long-term career development.

Practical implications

For organisations and human resource practitioners, these findings have several practical implications. First, stress management should not be viewed solely as a wellness or retention issue—it has direct consequences for career development and organisational talent pipelines. Employees who are chronically stressed are not only less productive but also less likely to benefit from mentoring relationships that are crucial for advancement.

Second, supervisors should be trained to recognise how stress manifests behaviorally and to differentiate between disengagement caused by disinterest versus that driven by overload. More empathetic supervision may allow mentors to offer support even when employees are not at their best.

Third, employee engagement should be actively cultivated as a buffer against the negative effects of stress. This could involve redesigning jobs to increase autonomy, recognising accomplishments to boost morale, and encouraging regular communication between team members and supervisors.

Finally, mentoring programs should consider the psychological state of mentees when pairing them with mentors. Support structures may need to be adjusted to ensure that stressed employees still have access to guidance and feedback, even if they are not in an optimal state to seek it out themselves.

Reference

Erdogan, B., Bauer, T. N., Eisenberger, R., & Chen, Z. (2024). Under pressure: Employee work stress, supervisory mentoring support, and employee career success. Personnel Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12662