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Conservation of resources theory
Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory is a stress theory that describes the motivation driving humans to both maintain their current resources and to pursue new resources. This theory was proposed by Dr. Stevan E. Hobfoll in 1989 as a way to expand on the literature on stress as a construct.
Hobfoll posited that psychological stress occurred in three instances: when there was a threat of a loss of resources, an actual net loss of resources, and a lack of gained resources following the spending of resources or providing significant effort. From this perspective, resources are defined as things that one values, specifically objects, states, and conditions. COR states that loss of these types of resources will drive individuals into certain levels of stress.
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. 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.
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. However, this theory is largely based on the homeostatic model of stress developed by Joseph McGrath (1970). 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. The first principle is called the Primacy of Resource Loss. This principle states that it is more harmful for individuals to lose resources compared to when there is a gain of resources. 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. This principle of COR states that people will tend to invest resources to protect against resource loss, to recover from losses, and to gain resources. 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.
From these two principles, COR has suggested a number of corollaries that can be applied to resource changes. They are as follows:
COR has been utilized when studying work/family stress, burnout, and general stress. 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. 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.
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Conservation of resources theory
Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory is a stress theory that describes the motivation driving humans to both maintain their current resources and to pursue new resources. This theory was proposed by Dr. Stevan E. Hobfoll in 1989 as a way to expand on the literature on stress as a construct.
Hobfoll posited that psychological stress occurred in three instances: when there was a threat of a loss of resources, an actual net loss of resources, and a lack of gained resources following the spending of resources or providing significant effort. From this perspective, resources are defined as things that one values, specifically objects, states, and conditions. COR states that loss of these types of resources will drive individuals into certain levels of stress.
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. 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.
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. However, this theory is largely based on the homeostatic model of stress developed by Joseph McGrath (1970). 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. The first principle is called the Primacy of Resource Loss. This principle states that it is more harmful for individuals to lose resources compared to when there is a gain of resources. 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. This principle of COR states that people will tend to invest resources to protect against resource loss, to recover from losses, and to gain resources. 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.
From these two principles, COR has suggested a number of corollaries that can be applied to resource changes. They are as follows:
COR has been utilized when studying work/family stress, burnout, and general stress. 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. 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.