Active coping and need for control as moderators of the job demand–control model: Effects on burnout

Abstract

Empirical research on Karasek's job demand–control (JD‐C) model has often failed to demonstrate the predicted interaction effect of high job demands and low job control on measures of strain. It has been suggested that the conceptualization of the control dimension as well as the neglect of workers' individual characteristics in the JD‐C model may be responsible for its relative lack of empirical support. In the current study among 367 Dutch nurses from 18 intensive care units, a more focused measure of control was used. In addition, two individual characteristics (i.e. active coping and need for control) were included as potential moderators in the JD‐C model. The demand‐control interaction effect as predicted by the JD‐C model could not be demonstrated. However, active coping turned out to moderate the interaction between job demands and job control. A misfit between level of control and individual coping style intensified the stress‐enhancing effect of job demands. Further research on the extension of the JD‐C model with personal characteristics is recommended.

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“…Investigators such as Parker andSprigg (1999) andDe Rijk et al (1998) have already shown that it is possible to produce more carefully detailed reports of the influence of job characteristics if account is taken of personal characteristics. Consequently, we will include the personal characteristic of a self-directed learning orientation.…”

High performance work systems and workers' well-being: a sceptical view

“…Rather than moderating the negative effects of heavy workloads, job control itself becomes a source of stress. By contrast, if individual's personality is characterised by a highly active approach to coping with stressful situations, a high degree of job control moderates the negative effects of heavy workloads (de Rijk et al, 1998;Van der Doef and Maes, 1999;Sparks et al, 2001).…”

Prince Edward Island: Building Capacity – The Implementation of a Critical Care/Emergency Program

“…Indeed, samples of nurses have been used in tests of both the JDC and JDC-S models (Bourbonnais et al 1999;de Rijk et al, 1998;Fox et al, 1993;Ganster et al, 2001;Morgan, Semchuk, Stewart & D"Arcy, 2002;Laschinger, Finegan & Shamian, 2001;Tummers et al, 2001). The nursing profession has been found to fall into the "active job" quadrant of the model, characterized by high demands and high control, in international surveys (Karasek & Theorell, 1990) and in a direct test of the model within the nursing profession (Seago, 1996;Seago & Faucett, 1997), although one sample found that nurses in rural nursing homes had high control and low demands, classifying the job as low strain (Morgan et al).…”

“…The model has also predicted health care costs incurred by the sample of nurses, although it did not predict mental health as measured by distress and well-being (Ganster et al, 2001). Additionally, an expanded model that included active coping predicted burnout among nurses (de Rijk et al, 1998).…”