The influence of trauma on internal integration: An approach‐avoidance analysis in disaster relief operations

Disaster relief workers face unique factors in their operating environments that can inhibit internal integration. For example, disaster relief often involves exposure to traumatic events affecting relief workers’ commitment to cooperation and the organization. As such, disaster relief organizations dedicate substantial amounts of scarce resources to support workers exposed to trauma. Unfortunately, contradictory views exist in the literature on how trauma exposure affects commitment and integrative behaviors and how supervisor support influences these relationships. Based on the approach‐avoidance coping theory, we test whether trauma exposure has positive or negative effects. We test our hypotheses on data from 300 disaster relief workers collected using a 2 × 3 factorial scenario‐based experiment. We find that trauma exposure evokes avoidance coping behaviors, which decrease individuals’ cooperative disposition, and approach coping behaviors, which motivate organizational commitment. Next, we show that both forms of commitment have a nonlinear convex relationship with internal integration and mediate the relationship between trauma exposure and internal integration. Finally, we find that supervisor support amplifies these relationships. When exposed to trauma, supervisor approach and avoidance orientations provide higher internal integration levels than subjects exposed to no supervisor support. These findings extend the literature on disaster relief management, integration, and support, guiding decision‐making regarding support investments in disaster relief organizations.