Employee resilience and advice giving: a randomized controlled trial in public organizations

Giving advice is commonly understood as a way for employees to support one another in coping with workplace stress. Yet being asked to advise others about stressful work may also prompt advisers to consider demands that they have not resolved themselves. Drawing on job demands–resources theory, this study examines how an advice request affects public employees’ perceived resilience. In a randomized controlled trial with public employees, participants were asked to provide advice about workplace stress. Those who gave advice reported lower perceived resilience than those in the control group. This finding suggests that an advice request can have an immediate effect on advisers’ perceived resilience. The study extends research on employee support by showing that giving advice may have consequences for advisers that differ from the benefits typically associated with peer support and exchange.