Workplace stress is a significant issue affecting employees globally, contributing to absenteeism, reduced productivity, and high healthcare costs. Traditional views have considered all stress as harmful; however, recent research distinguishes between challenge stressors, which can promote growth, and hindrance stressors, which can hinder growth. In this study, we tested a theoretical model based on the Challenge-Hindrance Stressor Framework (CHSF) and the Transactional Theory of Stress in an organizational context and introduce stress mindset as an important moderator in the stress appraisal process. Specifically, we examined how an individual's stress mindset—the belief that stress is either enhancing or debilitating—affects the way they appraise and respond to stressors in the workplace. Participants from two large U.S. government organizations completed an online survey assessing workplace stressors, stress mindset, stress appraisals, strains, wellbeing, work engagement, and performance. Structural Equation Modeling was used for analysis.


We hypothesized that stress mindset would amplify or dampen the positive relationship between challenge stressors and challenge appraisals, but what we found is that the stress appraisal process was completely reversed by one's mindset. Employees who had a stress-is-enhancing mindset had a positive appraisal of challenge stressors and those with a stress-is-debilitating mindset had a negative appraisal of challenge stressors. This is important because this study also shows that employees who appraised challenge stressors as challenges experienced less strains, greater wellbeing, higher engagement, and better performance. Stress mindset was also found to moderate the relationship between hindrance stressors and hindrance appraisals such that a stress-is-enhancing mindset dampens the relationship while a stress-is-debilitating mindset strengthens the relationship. The results suggest that a stress-is-enhancing mindset can potentially reduce the deleterious effects of hindrance stressors.


The findings contribute to the understanding of stress dynamics in the workplace and offer actionable strategies for organizational stress management by way of changing one's mindset around stress.