Should the subjective be the objective? On studying mental processes, coping behavior, and actual exposures in organizational stress research

Emphasis on measuring actual ('objective') job exposures has increased in r ecent organizational behavior/human resource management research. I argue t hat this approach has greater potential for increasing knowledge about how to make work environments more healthy than the alternative approach of foc using on mental processes and individual coping behaviors suggested by Perr ewe and Zellars. Incorporating psychological knowledge about attributions a nd emotions can enhance theory building in the organizational sciences. How ever, given that health outcomes are more strongly related to continuous ex posures it may be better to focus on modal job content and general tendenci es of individuals than to emphasize discrete events and specific, transitor y states, Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.