Conservation of resources theory

COR was developed from various theories on the cause of stress. COR development branches back to Walter Bradford Cannon (1932) who was one of the first researchers to study the concept of stress as it applies to humans, specifically in how stress can be withstood. {{cite book|last1=Cannon|first1=Walter|title=The wisdom of the body|date=1932|publisher=W W Norton & Co.|location=New York}} Hans Selye (1950) took on Cannon’s research on stress as a response and indicated that stress itself was designed as a way to protect the body from environmental challenges. {{cite book|last1=Selye|first1=Hans|title=The physiology and pathology of exposure to stress|date=1950|publisher=Acta|location=Monteral}}{{cite journal|last1=Hobfoll|first1=Stevan|title=Conservation of Resources. A New attempt at conceptualizing stress|journal=The American Psychologist|date=1989|volume=44|issue=3|pages=513–524|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513|pmid=2648906}}

Other researchers such as Elliot and Eisdorfer (1982) defined stress as specifically being the stimulus and not the response, which had been accepted by some of the scientific community.{{cite book|last1=Elliott|first1=GR|last2=Eisdorfer|first2=C|title=Stress and human health|date=1982|publisher=Springer|location=New York}} However, this theory is largely based on the homeostatic model of stress developed by Joseph McGrath (1970). {{cite journal|last1=McGrath|first1=Joseph|title=A conceptual formulation for research on stress|journal=Social and Psychological Factors in Stress|date=1970|volume=10|issue=21}} It is in this theory that stress is defined as an imbalance between the environmental demand and the response capability of an organism.

COR covers two basic principles involving the protection of resources from being lost. {{cite journal|last1=Hobfoll|first1=Stevan|title=Conservation of Resources. A New attempt at conceptualizing stress|journal=The American Psychologist|date=1989|volume=44|issue=3|pages=513–524|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513|pmid=2648906}}{{cite journal|last1=Halbesleben|first1=J.B.|last2=Paustian-Underdal|first2=S.C.|last3=Westman|first3=M|title=Getting to the "COR": Understanding the Role of Resources in Conservation of Resources Theory|journal=Journal of Management|date=2014|volume=40|issue=5|pages=1334–1364|doi=10.1177/0149206314527130}} The first principle is called the Primacy of Resource Loss.{{cite journal|last1=Halbesleben|first1=J.B.|last2=Paustian-Underdal|first2=S.C.|last3=Westman|first3=M|title=Getting to the "COR": Understanding the Role of Resources in Conservation of Resources Theory|journal=Journal of Management|date=2014|volume=40|issue=5|pages=1334–1364|doi=10.1177/0149206314527130}} This principles states that it is more harmful for individuals to lose resources compared to when there is a gain of resources.{{cite journal|last1=Halbesleben|first1=J.B.|last2=Paustian-Underdal|first2=S.C.|last3=Westman|first3=M|title=Getting to the "COR": Understanding the Role of Resources in Conservation of Resources Theory|journal=Journal of Management|date=2014|volume=40|issue=5|pages=1334–1364|doi=10.1177/0149206314527130}} What this means is that a loss of pay will be more harmful than the same gain in pay would have been helpful.

The second principle is known as Resource Investment. {{cite journal|last1=Halbesleben|first1=J.B.|last2=Paustian-Underdal|first2=S.C.|last3=Westman|first3=M|title=Getting to the "COR": Understanding the Role of Resources in Conservation of Resources Theory|journal=Journal of Management|date=2014|volume=40|issue=5|pages=1334–1364|doi=10.1177/0149206314527130}} This principle of COR states that people will tend to invest resources in order to protect against resource loss, to recover from losses, and to gain resources.{{cite journal|last1=Halbesleben|first1=J.B.|last2=Paustian-Underdal|first2=S.C.|last3=Westman|first3=M|title=Getting to the "COR": Understanding the Role of Resources in Conservation of Resources Theory|journal=Journal of Management|date=2014|volume=40|issue=5|pages=1334–1364|doi=10.1177/0149206314527130}} Within the context of coping, people will invest resources to prevent future resource losses. Resources can include "health, well-being, family, self-esteem, and a sense of purpose or meaning in life" as stated in the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behaviour in 2018.{{Cite journal |last1=Hobfoll |first1=Stevan E. |last2=Halbesleben |first2=Jonathon |last3=Neveu |first3=Jean-Pierre |last4=Westman |first4=Mina |date=2018-01-21 |title=Conservation of Resources in the Organizational Context: The Reality of Resources and Their Consequences |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032117-104640 |journal=Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=103–128 |doi=10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032117-104640 |issn=2327-0608|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Rivkin |first1=Wladislaw |last2=Moser |first2=Karin S. |last3=Diestel |first3=Stefan |last4=Alshaikh |first4=Isaac |date=2024-04-01 |title=Getting into flow during virtual meetings: How virtual meetings can benefit employee functioning in the work- and home domain |journal=Journal of Vocational Behavior |volume=150 |pages=103984 |doi=10.1016/j.jvb.2024.103984 |issn=0001-8791|doi-access=free }}

From these two principles, COR has suggested a number of corollaries that can be applied to resource changes. {{cite journal|last1=Hobfoll|first1=Stevan|title=Conservation of Resources. A New attempt at conceptualizing stress|journal=The American Psychologist|date=1989|volume=44|issue=3|pages=513–524|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513|pmid=2648906}} They are as follows:

1. Individuals with higher resources will be set up for gains in resources. Similarly, individuals with fewer resources are more likely to experience resource losses. {{cite journal|last1=Hobfoll|first1=Stevan|title=Conservation of Resources. A New attempt at conceptualizing stress|journal=The American Psychologist|date=1989|volume=44|issue=3|pages=513–524|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513|pmid=2648906}}
2. Initial resource loss will lead to resource loss in the future. {{cite journal|last1=Hobfoll|first1=Stevan|title=Conservation of Resources. A New attempt at conceptualizing stress|journal=The American Psychologist|date=1989|volume=44|issue=3|pages=513–524|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513|pmid=2648906}}
3. Initial resource gains will lead to resource gains in the future. {{cite journal|last1=Hobfoll|first1=Stevan|title=Conservation of Resources. A New attempt at conceptualizing stress|journal=The American Psychologist|date=1989|volume=44|issue=3|pages=513–524|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513|pmid=2648906}}
4. A lack of resources will invariably lead to defensive attempts to conserve the remaining resources. {{cite journal|last1=Hobfoll|first1=Stevan|title=Conservation of Resources. A New attempt at conceptualizing stress|journal=The American Psychologist|date=1989|volume=44|issue=3|pages=513–524|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513|pmid=2648906}}

COR has been utilized when studying work/family stress,{{cite journal|last1=Grandey|first1=A|last2=Cropanzano|first2=R|title=The Conservation of Resources model applied to work-family conflict and strain|journal=Journal of Vocational Behavior|date=1999|volume=54|issue=2|pages=350–370|doi=10.1006/jvbe.1998.1666}}{{cite journal|last1=Halbesleben|first1=J.R.|last2=Harvey|first2=J.|last3=Bolino|first3=M.C.|title=A conservation of resources view of the relationship between work engagement and work interference with family|journal=Journal of Applied Psychology|date=2009|volume=94|issue=6|pages=1452–65|doi=10.1037/a0017595|pmid=19916655}} burnout,{{cite journal|last1=Halbesleben|first1=J.R.|title=Sources of support and burnout: a meta analytic test of the conservation of resources model|journal=Journal of Applied Psychology|date=2006|volume=91|issue=5|pages=1134–45|doi=10.1037/0021-9010.91.5.1134|pmid=16953774}} and general stress.{{cite journal|last1=Hobfoll|first1=Stevan|title=Conservation of resources theory: Its implication for stress, health, and resilience|journal=The Oxford Handbook of Stress, Health, and Coping|pages=127–147}} In work/family stress, COR research has looked at how the distribution of one’s resources have affected their home life, with some articles finding that putting too much of one’s resources into one’s work may lead to family problems at home.{{cite journal|last1=Gandey|first1=Alicia|last2=Cropanzano|first2=Russell|title=The conservation of resources model applied to work-family conflict and strain|journal=Journal of Vocational Behavior|date=1999|volume=54|issue=2|pages=350–370|doi=10.1006/jvbe.1998.1666}} Research into COR and burnout has examined how the use of resources has impacted one’s mood, with recent research finding that emotional exhaustion had the strongest relationship with depressive symptoms.{{cite journal|last1=Neveu|first1=Jean-Pierre|title=Jailed resources: Conservation of resources theory as applied to burnout among prison guards|journal=Journal of Organizational Behavior|date=2007|volume=28|issue=1|pages=21–42|doi=10.1002/job.393}}

In regards to general stress, research has explored how the loss of resources impacts the levels of one’s stress.{{cite journal|last1=Hobfoll|first1=Stevan|title=The Influence of culture, community, and the nested-self in the stress process: Advancing conservation of resources theory|journal=Applied Psychology|date=2001|volume=50|issue=2|pages=337–421|doi=10.1111/1464-0597.00062}} COR has primarily been studied within the burnout and job fields, as the following meta-analyses will demonstrate. There is currently no meta-analyses on COR within other areas of stress research.

Multiple meta-analyses have been conducted with COR, specifically related to burnout. One meta-analysis by Lee and Ashforth (1996) examined the relationship between demand and resource correlates, behavioral and attitudinal correlate, and 3 different dimensions of job burnout. {{cite journal|last1=Lee|first1=R.T.|last2=Ashforth|first2=B.E.|title=A meta-analytic examination of the correlates of the three dimensions of job burnout|journal=Journal of Applied Psychology|date=1996|volume=81|issue=2|pages=123–133|doi=10.1037/0021-9010.81.2.123|pmid=8603909}} It used COR as the basis for this research and found that the primacy of resource loss principle is supported. It found that, over 58 sources, individuals tend to be sensitive to increased demands rather than resources received.

Job control and COR have been studied through a meta-analyses conducted by Park, Baiden, Jacob, & Wagner (2009). {{cite journal|last1=Park|first1=Hyung|last2=Baiden|first2=Mavis|last3=Jacob|first3=Annalyn C.|last4=Wagner|first4=Stephen H.|title=Job Control and Burnout: A Meta-Analytic Test of the Conservation of Resources Model|journal= Academy of Management Proceedings|date=2009|volume=1|pages=1–6|doi=10.5465/AMBPP.2009.44244567}} This study tested COR using all constructs involved in job control and burnout which included constructs of autonomy, authority, skill discretion, and decision latitude. Results indicate that the construct of job control, or the ability that one has to choose their actions from multiple options at their job, is related to depersonalization and personal accomplishment. This study stated that COR is related to burnout in this way, but further studies should be conducted that use non-human service occupations.

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Category:Psychological theories

Category:Psychological stress