9/11 and new york city firefighters' post hoc unit support and control climates: A context theory of the consequences of involvement in traumatic work-related events

We generate and test a context theory of the impact of involvement in work-related critical incidents, positing that variation in units' postevent support and control climates explains cross-unit variation in individual stressor-strain relationships, that posttraumatic distress mediates the link between critical incident involvement and negative emotional states, and that current support and control climates assume relevance by operating as contextual moderators of these individual-level mediated paths. Using multilevel data from New York City firefighters, many of whom were involved in 9/11, we find significant but unique cross-level moderating effects for both climate factors. Research and practice implications are discussed. Copyright of the Academy of Management, all rights reserved.