The DOI matches its Crossref record; 156 of the 156 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Conservation of Resources in the Organizational Context: The Reality of Resources and Their Consequences
Abstract
Over the past 30 years, conservation of resources (COR) theory has become one of the most widely cited theories in organizational psychology and organizational behavior. COR theory has been adopted across the many areas of the stress spectrum, from burnout to traumatic stress. Further attesting to the theory's centrality, COR theory is largely the basis for the more work-specific leading theory of organizational stress, namely the job demands-resources model. One of the major advantages of COR theory is its ability to make a wide range of specific hypotheses that are much broader than those offered by theories that focus on a single central resource, such as control, or that speak about resources in general. In this article, we will revisit the principles and corollaries of COR theory that inform those more specific hypotheses and will review research in organizational behavior that has relied on the theory.
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In the citing paper
“Along the same lines, COR theory asserts that less experienced nurses with fewer resources will be less able to obtain additional resources [38].”
From Narcissistic leadership, workplace bullying, turnover intention, and creative performance: a study of nurses (2025) · cites this paper as [38]
In the citing paper
“This theory posits that individuals are motivated to retain and protect existing resources, as well as to obtain and foster more resources in response to the threat of resource loss during negative events (Halbesleben et al., 2014;Hobfoll et al., 2018).”
From Perceived Destination Restorative Qualities in Wellness Tourism: The Role of Ontological Security and Psychological Resilience (2025) · cites this paper as Hobfoll et al., 2018
In the citing paper
“Additionally, COR theory posits that individuals strive to acquire and conserve the resources needed to sustain success in their particular context (Hobfoll, 1989;Hobfoll et al., 2018).”
From Work hard or play hard: the effect of leisure crafting on opportunity recognition and venture performance (2023) · cites this paper as Hobfoll et al., 2018
In the citing paper
“In line with COR theory and the SEMT, the capacity to store these resources is finite, so as one's reservoir of these resources becomes full, it becomes more difficult to continue to accumulate them (Hobfoll, 1989;Hobfoll et al., 2018;Spreitzer & Porath, 2013).”
From Work hard or play hard: the effect of leisure crafting on opportunity recognition and venture performance (2023) · cites this paper as Hobfoll et al., 2018
In the citing paper
“Since, the capacity to accumulate and store these personal resources is finite (Hobfoll et al., 2018;Metcalfe & Kornell, 2003), we posit that the positive effect of LC on entrepreneurs' thriving at work diminishes as entrepreneurs' work task focus increases.”
From Work hard or play hard: the effect of leisure crafting on opportunity recognition and venture performance (2023) · cites this paper as Hobfoll et al., 2018
Citations
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“Resources-Demands Ratio”: Translating the JD-R-Model for company stakeholders
Jenny, G. J., Bauer, G. F., Füllemann, D., Broetje, S., & Brauchli, R. (2019) · Journal of Occupational Health · doi:10.1002/1348-9585.12101 · Cited by 29
Perfectionism, Substance Use, and Mental Health in College Students: A Longitudinal Analysis
Nelsen, S. K., Kayaalp, A., & Page, K. J. (2023) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2021.1891076 · Cited by 21
Research on the Effect of Narcissistic Leadership on Employee Job Embeddedness
Wang, H., Jiao, R., & Li, F. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.927529 · Cited by 20
Peng, S., & Huang, Y. (2024) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-024-02110-z · Cited by 19
“Conservation of resources theory has become one of the classic theories to explain individual behavior and change [14, 15].”
BackgroundLiu, N., Cao, Y., & Xu, H. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1431861 · Cited by 18
Polychronicity, Time Perspective, and Procrastination Behavior at the Workplace: An Empirical Study
Zhijie, S., Gull, N., Asghar, M., Sarfraz, M., Shi, R., & Rafique, M. A. (2022) · Anales de Psicología · doi:10.6018/analesps.427401 · Cited by 17
Pięta, M., & Rzeszutek, M. (2022) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0275000 · Cited by 17
“Still, more research is needed to fully understand differences between subjective/illusory PTG and actual positive change as well as their significance for well-being [31, 41].”
BackgroundBeauchamp Legault, M.-È., Chênevert, D., Maisonneuve, F., & Mansour, S. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20075392 · Cited by 14
Sinha, N. K., Kumar, P., Kumar, S., & Priyadarshi, P. (2021) · IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review · doi:10.1177/2277975220965346 · Cited by 13
Tian, X., & Chae, H. (2023) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs13020180 · Cited by 12
Faeq, D. K. (2025) · BMC Nursing · doi:10.1186/s12912-025-03479-x · Cited by 6
“Along the same lines, COR theory asserts that less experienced nurses with fewer resources will be less able to obtain additional resources [38].”
Probst, G., Vîslă, A., & Flückiger, C. (2022) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102635 · Cited by 6
For whom and under what circumstances does email message batching work?
Wijngaards, I., Pronk, F. R., & Burger, M. J. (2022) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2022.100494 · Cited by 6
Zhong, S., Hu, J., & Xu, H. (2025) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-025-03543-w · Cited by 4
“In order to safeguard their remaining resources, individuals may adopt a defensive posture, which can lead to consequences such as job burnout and depression [22].”
Nian, P., Liu, M., Pei, J., & Liu, S. (2026) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116176
Metadata
- Authors
- Hobfoll, S. E., Halbesleben, J., Neveu, J.-P., & Westman, M.
- Affiliations
- Rush University Medical Center (US)
- University of Alabama (US)
- Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (FR)
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- Venue
- Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2018-01-21
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 103-128
- ISSN
- 2327-0608 (ISSN-L)
- 2327-0616
- OpenAlex
- W2625774310
- Semantic Scholar
- ab2a2c436fc0c43d069749154e32cbcccae7ee2a
- Cited by
- 5,781
- References
- 156
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1377 · 2025: 1127 · 2024: 861 · 2023: 775 · 2022: 690 · 2021: 499 · 2020: 295 · 2019: 124 · 2018: 29
- FWCI
- 24.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Keywords
- conservation of resources theory, job demands-resources model, organizational stress, burnout, traumatic stress, resource constraints, resource control
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