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Flex-time as a moderator of the

job stress-work motivation
relationship
A three nation investigation

Flex-time as a
moderator

487

Chet E. Barney and Steven M. Elias

Department of Management, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces,
New Mexico, USA
Abstract
Purpose It has been known for some time that job stress has a wide-ranging, negative impact on
employees. It has also been known that providing employees with autonomy and/or control over their
work environment reduces the deleterious consequences of job stress. The purpose of this study is to
examine whether control in the form of flex-time (i.e. allowing employees to create their own work
schedules) moderates the impact of stress on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among Russian,
Canadian, and Israeli Arab employees (n 933).
Design/methodology/approach Archival data that was obtained from employees (n 933)
residing in three different nations was analysed via hierarchical moderated multiple regression.
Findings In relation to extrinsic motivation, a significant interaction was observed between job
stress, flex-time, and country of residence. Although flex-time and country of residence were
significant predictors of intrinsic motivation, no significant interactions were observed.
Originality/value This is one of few papers to examine flex-time from an international
perspective. In terms of value, human resource managers are made aware that the impacts of flex-time
on employees motivation depends, in part, on the nation in which they are employed.
Keywords Flexible working hours, Stress, Motivation (psychology), Russia, Canada, Israel
Paper type Research paper

Recently, there has been a tendency among any number of organizations within
diverse industries to eliminate fixed working hours in favor of allowing employees
to create their own work schedules. These types of work schedules have come to be
known as flexi-time, flexitime, or flexible work hours. The concept of flex-time
allows employees some liberty to choose their beginning and ending work hours in
order to better serve the needs of individual employees, as well as, the organization.
Typically, a flex-time program will include a core period of the day where all
employees must be present (e.g. 10:00 am to 2:00 pm). However, outside this core
period, employees are free to decide when they arrive to, and depart from, the
workplace. The purpose of this study is to investigate flex-time as a potential
moderator of the job stress-work motivation relationship among Russian, Canadian,
and Israeli Arab employees. By gaining insight into potential methods for
mitigating the job stress-work motivation relationship, managers may become better
able to reduce the negative consequences associated with job stress through the use
of flex-time programs.

Personnel Review
Vol. 39 No. 4, 2010
pp. 487-502
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/00483481011045434

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Flex-time
Hackman and Oldham (1975) demonstrated through the use of their job characteristics
model that worker autonomy gives employees a sense of responsibility in their work,
which in turn leads to high motivation, high performance, high satisfaction, and low
turnover. Autonomy is defined as:

488

The degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion of the
employee in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it
out (Hackman and Oldham, 1975, p. 162).

Through their work, Hackman and Oldham (1975, 1976) were able to theoretically link
job autonomy to job performance. More recently, autonomy has been studied under
several areas of business research including teams (Hoque et al., 2004),
entrepreneurship (Lumpkin et al., 2009), employee strain (Sprigg et al., 2000),
employee morale (McKnight et al., 2001), virtual workplaces (Broadfoot, 2001),
workflow management systems (Vanderfeesten and Reijers, 2006), attitudes and
performance (Dood and Ganster, 1996), employee safety (Parker et al., 2001), and job
performance (Morgeson et al., 2005; Kalbers and Cenker, 2008).
Because flex-time grants employees the freedom (i.e. autonomy) to select their work
hours, we believe the autonomy construct is of theoretical importance to our study. As
autonomy within a job grows, individuals will enjoy greater discretion in deciding the
best ways to perform the work (Fried et al., 1999; Troyer et al., 2000) and realize more
opportunities to increase their job functions (Morgeson et al., 2005; Organ, 1988). In
2007, DeVaro, Li, and Brookshire analyzed Hackman and Oldhams (1975, 1976, 1980)
job characteristics model by using data collected from a large number of British
companies. They verified that autonomy is positively associated with productivity,
quality of work, and employee satisfaction.
Parker et al. (2001) found through a study of manufacturing employees that
autonomy, in part, led to a safe working environment. A recent study of accounting
professionals associated with five regional and five national accounting firms
demonstrated that autonomy has a direct and incremental impact on job performance
(Kalbers and Cenker, 2008). In a 2005 study of a large international company
headquartered in the USA, Morgeson et al. (2005) were able to demonstrate that
employee autonomy offers workers the opportunity to perform more tasks than are
minimally required from their job. Taking this into consideration, it may be the case
that flex-time motivates workers to perform at an increased level in comparison to
employees who lack control over their schedules. Dood and Ganster (1996) applied the
construct of autonomy to their study on worker attitudes and performance. They found
that in a high variety task environment, increased autonomy leads to increased
satisfaction, as well as increased performance. Kauffeld et al. (2004) found that a
flex-time work environment provides employees with a high degree of autonomy,
which leads to high determination, positive personal development, higher quality
work, and lower absenteeism.
Job stress
The belief that work-related stress can affect organizational outcomes has gained
wide-spread acceptance. With this in mind, increased awareness of work-related stress
is essential to the wellbeing of employees and organizations alike. For well over a

century, stress has been known to wreak havoc on employees physical condition (see
Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 for a review). Several studies have examined how job
related stress influences employee health (see Danna and Griffin, 1999; Zapf et al., 1996;
Sullivan and Bhagat, 1992; Ganster and Schaubroeck, 1991). More specifically, studies
of personnel found that people in high stress positions are at a greater risk of various
health and psychological problems (Karasek, 1979; Radmacher and Sheridan, 1995).
Much research has been indicative of how ones commitment to an organization is
directly related to the occurrence of stress experienced in the form of role ambiguity
and role conflict (Fisher and Gitelson, 1983; Jackson and Schuler, 1985). Indeed, one of
the many factors that influence an employees decision whether to remain with an
organization is stress (Dale and Fox, 2008). In 1987, Matteson and Ivancevich (1987)
estimated that stress is a major factor in organizations to the tune of 50 percent of
absenteeism, 40 percent of turnover, and 5 percent of lost productivity. Jamal (1985)
found the presence of a negative linear relationship between job stress and measures of
job performance in 550 blue-collar assembly line employees. While examining a
random sample of 300 working adults in Taiwan, Lu (1999) found that work related
demands (e.g. stress) and extrinsic motivations could be used to predict somatic
symptoms. Lu also noted that job discretion, or lack thereof, and intrinsic motivations
could forecast anxiety.
Indeed, there are some documented positive aspects of stress (eustress) in the
workplace (e.g. Quick et al., 2004). In an academic setting, Radcliffe and Lester (2003)
found that stress in medical students increased motivation and performance. This
stress was perceived as a positive type of preparation for the demands of a stressful
career. However, several studies on medical careers have noted that stress is a major
factor in causing burnout, which entails emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and
diminished personal accomplishment (e.g. Cordes and Dougherty, 1993; McManus et al.,
2002). The same type of burnout caused by stress among medical students can be
observed in most organizations. In addition, Baker et al. (1966) found that while
studying a sample of 80 army officers, some officers viewed stress as a stimulant, while
the rest viewed stress as a wanton cause of disorganization and ineffectiveness. Le
Fevre et al. (2003) noted that some management practices may assume that a
reasonable amount of stress in the workplace leads to increased productivity. However,
when discussing the topic of eustress, Perrewe and Ganster (2004, p. ix) commented
that, the eustress construct exposes its general lack of empirical development, despite
the common reference to the term. Due to this criticism of the eustress construct, as
well as the overwhelming evidence indicating stress is associated with far more
negative than positive consequences, we will focus our research on the negative
aspects of stress.
As stress in the workplace became a prevalent research topic, Karasek (1979)
created a stress-management model of job strain in order to attempt to predict mental
strain from the interaction of job demands and job decision latitude. During Karaseks
development of his model, he used survey data from Sweden and the USA to find that
redesigning work processes to allow increases in decision latitude for a broad range of
workers could reduce mental strain. For the purpose of the current research, we think
of increases in decision latitude as being synonymous with giving employees a greater
sense of control over their work. A sense of control at work is of great importance given
the negative consequences associated with a perceived lack of control. For example,

Flex-time as a
moderator

489

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while studying 387 university employees, Narayanan et al. (1999) found that a lack of
control was a major stressor among clerical workers. Likewise, while Spectors (1987a,
p. 155) hypothesis tests of the assertion have yielded mixed results, he has indicated
. . . one would predict that the negative effects of job stress would be reduced for those
individuals who believe they have control over them.

490

Job stress and motivation

When taking into consideration prior research addressing autonomy, control, flex-time
and job stress, we believe that providing employees with greater control at work,
particularly in the form of flex-time, will moderate the negative impact of job stress.
We will assess this contention in relation to intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation.
According to Deci and Ryans Self-Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985), when
an individual is intrinsically motivated, he or she performs some act because it is
intrinsically gratifying. For example, an intrinsically motivated employee will perform
his or her job, at least in part, because the work is experienced as being interesting and
enjoyable. When an individual is extrinsically motivated, he or she performs some act
because it has some instrumental value. For example, an extrinsically motivated
employee will perform his or her job, at least in part, because the work is a means of
obtaining an income.
Job stress has long been thought to impact motivation in the workplace. Several
research studies have determined that stressors are detrimental to job performance
(Allen et al., 1982; Gilboa et al., 2008; Jamal, 1985; Kahn and Byosiere, 1992), where the
decrease in job performance can be caused by a lack of job motivation. In 1990, Jamal
found in a study of 215 full-time nurses that job stress was a major factor in decreasing
work motivation and increasing motivation to leave the job. In addition, Gallstedt
(2003) noted a circular relationship between stress and motivation, in that a lack of
motivation may cause further stress, which could result in a further lack of motivation.
Further, LePine et al. (2004) demonstrated that stress has been negatively associated
with learning performance, which also has the potential to lower job motivation.
While scant research has dealt directly with the effects of stress upon intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation, we believe the literature cited above allows for the following
hypotheses to be proposed:
H1. A negative relationship will be observed between job stress and intrinsic
motivation and the relationship will be moderated by flex-time such that the
relationship will be weaker among employees with greater control over their
work schedules.
H2. A negative relationship will be observed between job stress and extrinsic
motivation and the relationship will be moderated by flex-time such that the
relationship will be weaker among employees with greater control over their
work schedules.
International generalizations
Hofstede (1980, p. 13; 2001, p. 9) has defined culture as a collective programming of the
mind which takes place through the learning and adapting of societal rituals and
behaviors. In addition, cultural factors may also affect the relationship between
attitudes and behavior (Hofstede, 1980, p. 18) and culture colors nearly every aspect

of human behavior (Javidan et al., 2006, p. 67). Notably, culture is believed to play a
role in all behavior in the workplace. According to Mezias et al. (1999, p. 326):

Flex-time as a
moderator

[. . .] culture does more than program the values that individual actors bring to particular
situations: it defines the identity of the actors and provides behavioral scripts for managing
relations between them.

Numerous studies have demonstrated how research results obtained in one country do
not always generalize to similar business practices in another country (e.g. Dustdar
and Hofstede, 1999; House et al., 2001; McCrae and Terracciano, 2005; Smith, 2006).
When taking this into consideration, it becomes clear that there are many cultural
variations among differing nations that must be taken into account if one wishes to
generalize the results of his or her research to an international setting. However, our
literature review yielded no prior research addressing flex-time and international
cultures. Due to there being insufficient prior research to generate a theory driven
hypothesis, we pose the following research question.

491

RQ1. Will the finding that flex-time moderates the job stress-intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation relationships generalize across three nations (i.e. Russian,
Canadian, and Israeli Arab employees)?
Method
Data source and participants
The data used for this study were obtained from the Inter-university Consortium for
Political and Social Research and was originally collected by the International Social
Survey Program (1997, 1999, 2000). For the current study, data were selected for
employed individuals (n 933) residing in Russia (n 356), Canada (n 383), and
Israel (Israeli Arabs; n 194). The typical respondent was male (n 512, 54.9
percent), 36.69 years of age (SD 11.13), worked 38.9 hours per week (SD 11.51),
and had completed 13.59 years of school (SD 3.58). Demographic information
broken down by country can be seen in Table I.

Country
Canada

Russia
Variable
Gender
Male
Female
Age
M
SD
HWW
M
SD
Education
M
SD

Israeli Arab

181
175

50.8
49.2

191
192

49.9
50.1

140
54

72.2
27.8

39.33
10.81

36.57
10.93

32.21
10.60

40.11
10.05

38.07
11.82

38.311
13.16

12.37
2.90

15.41
3.59

12.22
3.12

Note: n 933; HWW hours worked weekly

Table I.
Demographic information
broken down by country

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492

Materials
Flex-time was assessed via one item, Which of the following statements best describes
how your working hours are decided? (By working hours we mean here the times you
start and finish work, and not the total hours you work per week or month.)
Respondents selected one of three responses to the question:
(1) Indicated Starting and finishing times are decided by my employer and I
cannot change them on my own.
(2) Indicated I can decide the time I start and finish work, within certain limits.
(3) Indicated I am entirely free to decide when I start and finish work.
Job stress was assessed via four items (e.g. Do you find your work stressful?), each of
which was scored on a five-point Likert scale (1 Never; 5 always). A job stress
scale score was obtained by calculating the arithmatic average of the four scale items.
All reliability coefficients can be seen in Table II.
Extrinsic motivation was assessed via three items (e.g. My income is high) and
intrinsic motivation was assessed via four items (e.g. My job is interesting). As with
job stress, a five-point Likert scale was used (1 Strongly disagree; 5 Strongly
agree). Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation scale scores were derived by respectively
calcualting the arithmatic averages of the three extrinsic motivation items and the four
intrinsic motivation items.
A demographics questionnaire was completed by all respondents. The
characteristics utilized for this study were country of residence, gender, age, hours
worked weekely, and education in years completed.
Results
Preliminary analyses
Table II includes the descriptive statistics and reliability coefficiants for each variable
of interest, as well as the correlations among them. As can be seen, flex-time is
negaitvely correlated with stress, while being positively correlated with intrinsic
motivation, extrinsic motivation, country, and education. Based on these correlations,
it can be said that increased control over ones schedule is associated with lower levels
of job stress and increased levels of motivation. It can also be said that as ones level of
education increases, he or she is more likely to have control over his or her work
schedule. To gain a better understanding of the correlation between country and
flex-time, a one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc analyses was performed, F (2,
932) 45.80, p , 0.001. The post hoc results indicate employees in Canada have
significantly greater control over their schedules than do Russian and Isreli Arab
employees. In addition, Table II would indicate a lack of multicollinearity given no
coefficients are greater than 0.70 (see Vogt, 2007).
Moderating effect of flex-time
Hierarchical moderated multiple regression (HMMR; Jaccard and Turrisi, 2003) was
used in order to determine whether the impact of job stress on work motivation
(intrinsic and extrinsic) is contingent on the extent to which an employee has control
over his or her work schedule. For each HMMR model, employee gender, age, hours
worked weekly, and education were controlled for at Step 1. Job stress, flex-time, and
country were entered at Step 2. The job stress flex-time interaction was entered at

Flex-time
Stress
Extrinsic
Intrinsic
Country
Sex
Age
HWW
Education

0.61
0.85
0.92
0.82
na
na
36.69
11.51
3.58

1.43
2.86
3.01
3.77
na

38.90
13.59

SD

M
(na)
2 0.12 * *
0.19 * *
0.22 * *
0.13 * *
na
11.13
0.03
0.19 * *

1
(0.68)
20.03
0.00
0.17 * *
20.04
20.01
0.18 * *
20.15 * *

(0.65)
0.32 * *
0.29 * *
20.19 * *
20.07 *
0.16 * *
0.11 * *

(0.73)
0.14 * *
20.10 * *
20.12 * *
0.10 * *
0.24 * *

(na)
2 0.01
0.02
2 0.07 *
0.07 *

2 0.14 * *
2 0.24 * *
2 0.21 * *
0.03

(na)
0.03
0.09 * *
20.01

(na)

(na)
(na)
0.03

worked weekly; na Not applicable; Values in parentheses Reliability coefficients; Country 1 Russia, 2 Canada 3 Israeli Arab

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01. n 933; Flex-time control over schedule (1 No control, 2 Some control, 3 Total control); HWW Hours

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Variable

Flex-time as a
moderator

493

Table II.
Descriptive statistics and
correlations among the
variables of interest

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494

Step 3 and the job stress flex-time country interaction was entered at Step 4. The
job stress flex-time interaction was equal to the product of mean centered job stress
and flex-time. The job stress flex-time country interaction was equal to the
product of mean centered job stress, flex-time, and country. Neither flex-time or
country were mean centered because they are both categorical variables (see Jaccard
and Turrisi, 2003). When a significant interaction was observed, main effects were not
interpreted as doing so can yield misleading results (McClendon, 2002). Further,
significant interactions were interpreted by graphing the regression lines for each level
of flex-time (no control, some control, full control) at low and high levels of stress for
each country. Low and high levels of stress were respectively defined as one standard
deviation below and one standard deviation above the mean.
The results of the HMMR can be seen in Table III. In terms of control variables, hours
worked weekly and education each served as predictors of intrinsic motivation. Gender,
age, hours worked weekly, and education all served as predictors of extrinsic motivation.
Neither the job stress flex-time interaction, nor the job stress flex-time country
interaction served as a significant predictor of intrinsic motivation. However, main
effects of flex-time (b 0.16, p , 0.001) and country (b 0.12, p , 0.001) were
observed. In order to clarify the relationship between country and intrinsic motivation, a
one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc analyses was performed, F (2, 932) 18.25,
p , 0.001. Results of the post hoc analyses indicate Russian (M 3.57, SD 0.91)
employees report significantly lower intrinsic motivation than Canadian (M 3.93,
SD 0.69) and Israeli Arab (M 3.82, SD 0.80) employees. The mean difference
bnetween the Canadian and Israeli Arab employees intrinsic motivation was
non-significant. The job stress flex-time country interaction did serve as a
significant predictor of extrinsic motivation (b 0.29, p , 0.01).
The job stress flex-time country interaction in relation to extrinsic motivation
is graphically depicted in Figures 1 through 3. Figure 1, which pertains to Russian
employees, demonstrates that when job stress is low, extrinsic motivation is
greatest among those employees with full control over their work schedules. While
this is inconsistent with the results obtained from Canadian employees (see
Figure 2), it is consistent with the results obtained from Israeli Arab employees (see
Figure 3). A consistent finding across the three nations is that increased stress has
the greatest impact, as measured by the slopes of the regression lines, on those with
complete control over their work schedules. While in each instance the slopes are
greatest among those with complete control over their schedules, there is some
variance in terms of the direction of the slopes. To be specific, while increased
stress is associated with declines in extrinsic motivation among Russian and Israeli
Arab employees, increased stress is associated with an increase in extrinsic
motivation among Canadian employees.
While increased stress is associated with decreased extrinsic motivation among
Russian employees, regardless of the amont of control one has over his or her schedule,
this is not the case for Canadian and Israeli Arab employees. Among Canadian
employees, increased stress is associated with decreased extrinsic motivation for those
with no control and some control over their schedules, but increased extrinsic motivation
among those with complete control over their schedules. The results obtained for the
Israeli Arab employees mirror those of the Canadian employees. Among Israeli Arab
employees, increased stress is associated with increased extrinsic motivation for those

0.02
0.16 * * *
0.12 * * *

0.02
0.22
0.14
0.02
0.02

Step 2
Job stress
Flex-time
Country

Step 3
Job stress flex-time

Step 4
Job stress flex-time country
0.03

0.05

0.03
0.04
0.04

0.05
0.01
0.01
0.01

0.11

0.11

0.11 * *

0.07 * *

0.00

0.00

0.04 * *

DR 2

0.10

0.06

20.11
0.18
0.35

20.13
20.01
0.01
0.03

0.29 * *

0.08

20.10 * *
0.12 * * *
0.28 * * *

0.03

0.06

0.04
0.05
0.04

0.06
0.01
0.01
0.01

0.09 * * *

0.00
0.02 * *

0.15 * * *

0.15
0.17

DR 2

0.06 * * *

Extrinsic motivation
SE
R2

20.07 *
20.13 * * *
0.15 * * *
0.11 * *

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01; * * *p , 0.001. n 933; Flex-time Control over schedule (1 No control, 2 Some control, 3 Total control);
HWW Hours worked weekly; Country 1 Russia, 2 Canada 3 Israeli Arab

0.06

0.03

0.01
0.01
0.10 * *
0.24 * * *

Step 1
Gender
Age
HWW
Education
.001
0.01
0.01
0.06

Intrinsic motivation
SE
R2

Variables

Flex-time as a
moderator

495

Table III.
HMMR assessing
flex-time, country, and
job stress

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496

Figure 1.
Regression lines
predicting extrinsic
motivation from job stress
among Russian employees

with no control and some control over their schedules, but decreased extrinsic motivation
among those with complete control over their schedules.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to examine flex-time as a moderating variable of the job
stress-work motivation relationship among employees residing in three different countries.
Since the introduction of flex-time in the early 1970s into the US workforce, much attention
has been focused upon the topic. Unfortunately, much of the prior research on flex-time has
been criticized for having homogeneous, small samples, thus limiting the ability to make
generalizations with confidence (Sharpe et al., 2002). We attempted to address these
criticizms by utilizing a large data set (n 933) obtained from employees working in
three different nations (i.e. Canadians, Russians, and Israeli Arabs).
Results from the current study indicate that increased control over ones schedule is
associated with lower levels of job stress and increased levels of extrinsic motivation.
These results bolster confidence in prior findings suggesting that an increase in
autonomy levels and employee control leads to a decrease in job stress and/or mental
strain (e.g. Karasek, 1979; Narayanan et al., 1999). When taking the current, as well as
prior, research into consideration, management may be well advised to implement some
form of flex-time option if their subordinates experinece a great deal of stress while on
the job, particularly if they are lacking in extrinsic motivation. Of course, this practical
implication requires that such an implementation is both feesable and appropriate.
Based on an examination of control variables, it can also be inferred that as ones level
of education increases, he or she is more likely to have a job that allows for greater control
over his or her work schedule. Additional results from our analyses indicate hours worked
weekly and education each served as predictors of intrinsic motivation, while gender, age,
hours worked weekly, and education all served as predictors of extrinsic motivation.
Neither the job stress flex-time interaction, nor the job stress flex-time country
interaction served as a significant predictor of intrinsic motivation, which could be due to
the fact that employees with high intrinsic motivation find their work to be internally
gratifying. Therefore, it is likely that employees with high intrinsic motivation receive
pleasure from performing their work itself and a flexible work schedule, which may very
well be thought of as an extrinsic motivator, is of little importance.
The job stress flex-time country interaction did serve as a significant predictor
of extrinsic motivation. As can be seen in Figures 1-3, the data collected from Russian
and Israeli Arab employees demonstrates that when job stress is low, extrinsic
motivation is greatest among those employees with full control over their work

schedules. These results are inconsistent with the data obtained from Canadian
employees. However, a consistent finding across the three nations is that increased
stress has the strongest impact on those with complete control over their work
schedules, such that increased stress is associated with declines in extrinsic motivation
among Russian and Israeli Arab employees and an increase in extrinsic motivation
among Canadian employees.
As flex-time is taken into consideration, increased stress is associated with
decreased extrinsic motivation among Russian employees, regardless of the amount of
control one has over his or her schedule. The same results are not seen with Canadian
and Israeli Arab employees. Among Canadian employees, increased stress is
associated with decreased extrinsic motivation for those with no control and some
control over their schedules, while increased extrinsic motivation among those
employees who maintain complete control over their schedules. The results obtained
for the Israeli Arab employees mirror those of the Canadian employees. Among Israeli
Arab employees, increased stress is associated with increased extrinsic motivation for
those with no control and some control over their schedules, but decreased extrinsic
motivation among those with complete control over their schedules.
When taking the above into consideration, flex-time would appear to play a role in
the impact job stress has on employees extrinsic motivation. With this in mind, an
increased awareness of work-related stress and the possiblity of reducing stress by
allowing employees to utilize a flex-time program, may very well be of benefit to
organizations.

Flex-time as a
moderator

497

Limitations and future research

Any time one collects data from a single source, common method variance (CMV) is of
concern. Campbell and Fiske (1959) described method variance as variance ascribed to

Figure 2.
Regression lines
predicting extrinsic
motivation from job stress
among Canadian
employees

Figure 3.
Regression lines
predicting extrinsic
motivation from job stress
among Israeli Arab
employees

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498

a measurement method rather than to the constructs of interest, and Spector (1987b)
has noted that method variance has the potential to bias results when relations are
investigated among constructs measured in the same way, usually with self-reported
data. In terms of the potential bias, relationships among study variables can become
inflated when data is taken from a single source such as the individual employee
(Bishop et al., 2005). While CMV has the potential to pose problems for scholars, there
is a fair amount of debate over the extent to which CMV should be of concern. Indeeed,
Spector (2006) reports CMV has become more of an urban legend than a widespread
methodological concern. For the current study, concerns over CMV are greatly reduced
based on significant interactions being observed in the data (see Podsakoff et al. (2003)
for a discussion of CMV and the direct product model).
A second limitation to our study pertains to the obtained data set. Because the
sample was large (n 933) and spanned three nations, the data was gathered from a
very diverse sample comprized of individuals working in numerous occupations. As
such, we were only able to gain broad insights into the flex-time-job stress interaction.
Future research should be performed focusing on specific occupations and/or
industries, which would allow for scholars to gain more focused insights into the
flex-time-job stress interaction.
Noteworthy is that flex-time is only one of several alternative work patterns (e.g. job
sharing and the virtual office) that is common to todays workforce. Future research
should investigate the efficacy of other alternative work patterns in terms of their
ability to serve as a buffer against the negative consequences associated with job
stress. Of great importance is future cross-cultural research examining the potential
benefits of flex-time, as well as other alternative work patterns. As previously
mentioned, the literature review performed for this study yielded very little in terms of
cross-cultural information of relevance to the study of flex-time. Hopefully, this study
will serve as a catalyst for such research.
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Further reading
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About the authors
Chet E. Barney (MISM, Brigham Young University) is a doctoral student at New Mexico State
University with research interests in the area of organizational behavior. In addition to his
MISM, Chet has a certificate in global management. His research has been published in Issues in
Information Systems and he has served as an ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of Global
Information Technology Management and the Journal of Information Technology Cases and
Applications.
Steven M. Elias (PhD, Colorado State University) is an associate professor of management
and director of the management doctoral program at New Mexico State University. His primary
research interests revolve around managerial influence, self-efficacy, and deviant workplace
behavior. His research has been published in the Journal of Management, Journal of
Management History, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of General Psychology,
International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Social Influence, Journal of College Student
Development, and Southern Business and Economics Journal. A past member of the Journal of
Management editorial board, Steven is currently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of
Organizational Behavior and the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. Steven M. Elias is the
corresponding author and can be contacted at: selias@nmsu.edu

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