The job demands-resources model of burnout.

The job demands-resources (JD-R) model proposes that working conditions can be categorized into 2 broad categories, job demands and job resources. that are differentially related to specific outcomes. A series of LISREL analyses using self-reports as well as observer ratings of the working conditions provided strong evidence for the JD-R model: Job demands are primarily related to the exhaustion component of burnout, whereas (lack of) job resources are primarily related to disengagement. Highly similar patterns were observed in each of 3 occupational groups: human services, industry, and transport (total N = 374). In addition, results confirmed the 2-factor structure (exhaustion and disengagement) of a new burnout instrument--the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory--and suggested that this structure is essentially invariant across occupational groups.     

Personality traits and job characteristics as predictors of job experiences

This study investigates the relationships of personality traits and job characteristics (predictors) with job experiences (criteria) in a sample of job incumbents working in a broad variety of occupations. Subjects were 181 job applicants, who participated in a personnel selection procedure carried out by a Dutch staffing organization. As a part of this procedure, subjects completed a number of personality questionnaires. Personality scale scores were factor-analysed, and four orthogonal trait dimensions were identified: Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Sensation Seeking, and Achievement Motivation. Between l½ and 2 years after the selection, subjects rated their current jobs on four job characteristics dimensions, namely dynamicity, autonomy, external–internal, and structure. At the same time, they completed a questionnaire measuring job experiences, namely job satisfaction, job-induced tension, propensity to leave the job, and self-appraised performance. The results indicated that personality traits had several significant and hypothesized longitudinal effects on the job experience criteria. Personality contributed to the prediction of the criteria even when the effects of job characteristics were taken into account. No significant Personality X Job Characteristics interactions were found, although subgroup analysis revealed a number of interesting differences among the various categories of occupations. For example, Sensation Seeking predicted job strain and propensity to leave, especially in highly structured and not very autonomous jobs. It is concluded that work experiences are clearly determined by person and job characteristics, although in an additive rather than in an interactional way.     

Reciprocal relations between recovery and work engagement: the moderating role of job stressors

In this paper, we examined the within-person relations between morning recovery level (i.e., feeling refreshed and replenished) and work engagement throughout the day, and between work engagement throughout the day and the subsequent recovery level at the end of the workday. We hypothesized that job stressors (situational constraints, job demands) moderate these relations. A diary study over 1 workweek with 2 measurement occasions per day (N = 111 persons) provided support for most of the hypotheses: Morning recovery level predicted work engagement, and work engagement predicted subsequent recovery level at the end of the workday after controlling for morning recovery level. As predicted, situational constraints attenuated these relations, but job demands did not. The results suggest that recovery translates into employee work engagement, and work engagement, in turn, prevents a loss in recovery level throughout the day, particularly when situational constraints are low. Situational constraints seem to interrupt the reciprocal processes between recovery level and work engagement.     

Personality and job satisfaction: the mediating role of job characteristics

This study tested a model of the relationship between core self-evaluations, intrinsic job characteristics, and job satisfaction. Core self-evaluations was assumed to be a broad personality concept manifested in 4 specific traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and low neuroticism. The model hypothesized that both subjective (perceived) job characteristics and job complexity mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. Two studies were conducted to test the model. Results from Study 1 supported the hypothesized model but also suggested that alternative models fit the data well. Results from Study 2 revealed that core self-evaluations measured in childhood and in early adulthood were linked to job satisfaction measured in middle adulthood. Furthermore, in Study 2 job complexity mediated part of the relationship between both assessments of core self-evaluations and job satisfaction.     

Role function and job satisfaction of school psychologists practicing in an expanded role model

School psychologists are typically itinerant among multiple schools and often spend up to two-thirds of their time on assessment activities related to students with disabilities and special education programs. School psychologists in delivery of an expanded role service model are assigned to a single school and provide more consultation and intervention services. 97 school psychologists assigned to an expanded role in a single southeastern urban school district were surveyed on their job roles and job satisfaction. The majority were satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs, particularly with engaging in activities that were of service to others and staying involved in a variety of job activities. School psychologists wanted to spend less time in assessment, multidisciplinary team meetings, and administrative duties. The discrepancy between the desired and actual amount of time spent in multidisciplinary meetings was negatively related to job satisfaction. Psychologists wanted to spend more time in direct and indirect intervention, professional development, and networking.     

The job involvement modulating role in the relationship between stress and job satisfaction

This paper analyzes the modulator role of job involvement in the relationship between stress and job satisfaction, using the OSI (Occupational Stress Indicator) model. For this purpose, we analyzed: six sources of stress, the OSI job satisfaction results, and a job involvement scale. The sample consisted of 779 professional soldiers from the Spanish Army. The results show that when the levels of the two dimensions job involvement (psychological identification and job-related feelings of duty-obligation are high, stress due to achievements and career development and social relationships will have no influence on job satisfaction. However, we found higher job satisfaction, even when stress is high, in those situations where psychological identification is low and job-related feelings of duty-obligation are high.     

Family interference with work and workplace cognitive failure: The mitigating role of recovery experiences

The first goal of this study was to test whether family interference with work (FIW) is positively related to increased workplace cognitive failure (WCF), which is defined as errors made at work that indicate lapses in memory (e.g., failing to recall work procedures), attention (e.g., not fully listening to instruction), and motor function (e.g., unintentionally pressing control switches on machines). The second goal was to determine whether recovery experiences (psychological detachment and relaxation) during free time on evenings and weekends can mitigate (weaken) the positive relationship between FIW and WCF. Results based on data collected from 118 water utility employees suggest that FIW is indeed related to more WCF, and that psychological detachment from work mitigates this positive relationship. It was relatively less evident that relaxation plays such a mitigating role.     

First years in job: A three-wave analysis of work experiences

A sample of 423 Swiss job entrants reported major change in general, as well as positive and negative work experiences one, two, and four years after finishing vocational training. Qualitative data analysis showed change in responsibility, increase in decision latitude, acquisition of new status (professional work status, full team member status), increased salary, and change in work rhythm to be characteristic for the transition from apprenticeship into “real work”. In terms of costs and benefits participants reported transition-specific combinations of work experiences, with responsibility and social recognition as positive experiences combined with high demands as negative experiences. Reports of increasing demands and task intensity were frequent throughout the first four years of job experience. Cooperation and social exchange always were of major concern, both as positive and negative experiences. The number of positive and negative experiences reported predicted job satisfaction over and above previous job satisfaction, background variables, stressors, and resources. Results point to a rather smooth transition, in which negative experiences are embedded in, and outweighed by, positive ones.     

Examining the job search-turnover relationship: the role of embeddedness, job satisfaction, and available alternatives

This study examined factors that may help explain under what conditions employee job search effort may most strongly (or weakly) predict subsequent turnover. As predicted, the job search-turnover relationship was stronger when employees had lower levels of job embeddedness and job satisfaction and higher levels of available alternatives. These findings suggest that there may be a number of factors interacting to influence employees' turnover decisions, indicating greater complexity to the process than described in prominent sequential turnover models.     

Emotional intelligence, teamwork effectiveness, and job performance: the moderating role of job context

We advance understanding of the role of ability-based emotional intelligence (EI) and its subdimensions in the workplace by examining the mechanisms and context-based boundary conditions of the EI-performance relationship. Using a trait activation framework, we theorize that employees with higher overall EI and emotional perception ability exhibit higher teamwork effectiveness (and subsequent job performance) when working in job contexts characterized by high managerial work demands because such contexts contain salient emotion-based cues that activate employees' emotional capabilities. A sample of 212 professionals from various organizations and industries indicated support for the salutary effect of EI, above and beyond the influence of personality, cognitive ability, emotional labor job demands, job complexity, and demographic control variables. Theoretical and practical implications of the potential value of EI for workplace outcomes under contexts involving managerial complexity are discussed.     

Adjusting to job demands: The role of work self-determination and job control in predicting burnout

This study examined the dynamic interplay among job demands, job control, and work self-determination in order to predict burnout dimensions. A three-way interaction effect was found between job demands, job control and work self-determination in predicting each dimension of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment). Overall, results showed that job control moderates the unhealthy effects of job demands in predicting emotional exhaustion and depersonalization only for employees with high levels of work self-determination. In addition, job control increases the relation between job demands and the sense of personal accomplishment only for employees with high levels of work self-determination. These results are discussed in light of the Job Demand-Control model.     

Disaster recovery experiences of a South African rural farming community

This study explored the bush fire disaster experiences and coping of South African farmers. Participants consisted of seven male farmers (6?=?White Afrikaans-speaking; 1?=?Black Tswana-speaking). Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, nine months after the disaster, and analysed thematically. The findings showed that the farmers’ recovery was characterised by three distinct, transitioning phases. The first period involved resource-maintenance coping and emotion-focused coping. The second time period was characterised by meaning making related strategies. Finally, the third time period was charactirised by anxiety over reoccurrence and resource-maintenance coping. The results also suggest that successful coping is reliant on the individual's ability to adapt coping strategies continually, in a context-appropriate manner.     

On the heritability of job satisfaction: the mediating role of personality

In this article the authors investigate the extent to which traits reflecting individual differences in personality and affectivity explain or mediate genetic influences on job satisfaction. Using estimates of the dispositional source of job satisfaction according to 2 dispositional frameworks--the five-factor model and positive affectivity-negative affectivity (PA-NA)--and behavioral-genetic estimates of the heritabilities of job satisfaction and the dispositional factors, the authors computed the proportion of genetic variance in job satisfaction that is explained by these trait frameworks. Results indicate that the affectivity model is a stronger mediator of genetic effects on job satisfaction than the five-factor model. PA and NA mediate about 45% of the genetic influences on job satisfaction, whereas the five-factor model mediates approximately 24% of these genetic effects.     

Consequences of job insecurity and the moderator role of occupational group

In recent decades, transformations in organizations and the labour market have produced an increase in employee job insecurity. In response to this situation, workers present different negative reactions. However, the intensity of these reactions varies across studies that have investigated the outcomes of job insecurity. One possible explanation for this inconsistency may lie in the influence of other factors, such as the occupational group (Sverke et al., 2002). The aim of this study is to provide additional evidence about the relationship between job insecurity and its outcomes (i.e., life satisfaction, job satisfaction, perceived performance and organizational commitment), and examine the moderator role of occupational group in this relationship. The sample was composed of 321 employees from different Spanish organizations. The results showed that job insecurity was directly and negatively related to life satisfaction, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and they suggest that occupational group moderated relations between job insecurity and three studied outcomes. In the case of life satisfaction and perceived performance, this relationship was stronger among blue collar workers. The relationship between job insecurity and job satisfaction was stronger in white collar workers. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.     

The role of acceptance and job control in mental health, job satisfaction, and work performance

Acceptance, the willingness to experience thoughts, feelings, and physiological sensations without having to control them or let them determine one's actions, is a major individual determinant of mental health and behavioral effectiveness in a more recent theory of psychopathology. This 2-wave panel study examined the ability of acceptance also to explain mental health, job satisfaction, and performance in the work domain. The authors hypothesized that acceptance would predict these 3 outcomes 1 year later in a sample of customer service center workers in the United Kingdom (N = 412). Results indicated that acceptance predicted mental health and an objective measure of performance over and above job control, negative affectivity, and locus of control. These beneficial effects of having more job control were enhanced when people had higher levels of acceptance. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical relevance of this individual characteristic to occupational health and performance.     

The role of traumatic experiences in the genesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

This paper discusses the role of traumatic stress in the genesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder. While the early classical conditioning theory of the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder has only limited empirical support, authorities have always recognised the role of stress in precipitating this disorder, and in triggering relapse in those who have been successfully treated. Here, clinical cases are cited that show a causal link between severe trauma and the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The nature of the traumatic reaction and the possible mechanisms by which it leads to frank obsessive-compulsive disorder are discussed. The apparent links between this and posttraumatic stress disorder are also explored. Finally, implications for therapy are considered.     

Emotional exhaustion and job performance: the mediating role of motivation

The literature concerning the relationship between emotional exhaustion and performance led researchers to raise questions about the extent to which the variables are related. In 2 time-lagged samples, the authors found that motivation mediates the emotional exhaustion-job performance relationship. Moreover, the authors found that participants appear to target their investment of resources in response to emotional exhaustion to develop social support through social exchange; specifically, emotional exhaustion was associated with communion striving resources that were manifest in the form of organizational citizenship behaviors targeted at individuals. Implications of this relationship for theories of burnout and for management practice are discussed.     

Minimizing strain and maximizing learning: the role of job demands, job control, and proactive personality

Using a sample of 268 production employees, this study extended research on R. Karasek's (1979) demands-control model of stress in 2 ways. First, results show that R. Karasek's proposed interaction between demands and control when predicting strain occurred only for more proactive employees. This 3-way interaction helps reconcile previous inconsistent findings about the interaction between demands and control when predicting strain. Second, the study extends research by investigating the demands-control interaction and the moderating influence of proactive personality in relation to learning-oriented outcomes (perceived mastery, role breadth self-efficacy, and production ownership). There were no 3-way interactions among the variables when predicting these learning-oriented outcomes, but all were important predictors. These results show (a) that demands and control can influence learning as proposed in the dynamic version of the demands-control model and (b) that proactive personality plays an important moderating role.