The Impact of Stress on Graduate Students’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior: the Moderating Role of Mentorship

Stress is one of the most researched topics in organizational psychology because of the important implications for overall health. Graduate school has many different stressors that put that specific population at a higher risk for the adverse effects of stress. Stress not only has implications for health but specific behaviors like organizational citizenship behaviors. The present study surveyed a sample of graduate students and examined ways in which mentorship can moderate the relation between stress, workload, physical symptoms, and OCBs. Eighty-five graduate students completed an anonymous survey. Results indicated that stress significantly predicted OCBs in graduate students. Also, mentorship was found to significantly moderate the relation between workload and OCBs. These findings provide added information on the impact of stress on graduate students as well as practical implications for mentorship