Hindrance demands as a boundary condition to the appraisal of challenge demands.

Background and objectives: Studies show that prototypical challenge demands can be appraised as challenging, hindering and threatening. Yet, to date there exists no clear reasoning as to why these different appraisals occur. Drawing on transactional stress theory, we propose that co-occurring hindrance demands likely affect the day-specific appraisal of challenge demands (i.e., time pressure and complexity).

Design and method: To test this proposition we conducted a daily diary study with 432 employees. We tested our hypotheses using multi-level latent interaction analyses at the within-person level.

Results: Results revealed that on days when individuals experienced more hindrance demands, they were less likely to appraise time pressure and complexity as challenging and more likely to appraise them as hindering or threatening.

Conclusion: The results outline the need to consider co-occurring hindrance demands when assessing appraisal patterns associated with challenge demands.