Age as a moderator in the relationship between work-related characteristics, job dissatisfaction and need for recovery

Abstract

Demographic changes increase the importance to stimulate working longer. Using questionnaire data, we investigated the relationship between work characteristics, job dissatisfaction and need for recovery in four age groups. Although the moderating effect of age group was rather limited, the salience of specific work characteristics within the age groups varied.

The role of working hours, work environment and physical leisure activity on the need for recovery following a day's work among UK white-water raft guides: A within-subjects multilevel approach

“…This contradicts previous findings, which identified no direct relationship between working hours and the need for occupational recovery experienced by office workers (Bos et al, 2013;Van der Hulst et al, 2006). Additionally, the negative association was unexpected, as working in the outdoor leisure environment is a physically and psychologically demanding occupation (Arnould & Price, 1993), making it plausible to expect that a greater number of hours worked would be associated with a greater need for occupational recovery.…”

“…Individuals who do not work enough may just be at risk of negative health consequences as those who work too much (Sparks, Cooper, Fried, & Shirom, 1997). This may explain why not all studies have found a direct association between the number of hours worked and the need for occupational recovery after a working day (Bos, Donders, Schouteten, & Van der Gulden, 2013; Van der Hulst, Van Veldhoven, & Beckers, 2006). However, it could also be that these studies have only focused on non-physically active work such as university and office based administration employees.…”

Moderating Effect of Job Type on Job Characteristic—Worker Outcome Relationships

“…Prior research MODERATING EFFECT OF JOB TYPE ON JOB CHARACTERISTIC 175 has found age to affect perceptions of job characteristics and actual worker outcomes (Bos et al, 2013). Therefore, correlations were examined between age and all the variables in this study.…”

“…The beneficial impact of skill variety on worker outcomes is due to a sense of meaning derived from one's work by utilizing various skills in the job which also make the job more interesting and less monotonous (Oldham, Hackman, & Pearce, 1976). As with autonomy and task significance, there is also a large amount of research that indicates positive relationships between skill variety and job satisfaction as well as OC, and a negative relationship with turnover intentions including several meta-analyses (Griffin, 1991;Loher et al, 1985;Mathieu & Zajac, 1990) and more recent individual studies (Bos, Donders, Schouteten, & van der Gulden, 2013) as well as longitudinal studies (Taris, 1999).…”

“…Liu (2008) also found higher reported job satisfaction as well as OC for higher executives and major professionals than administrative, sales, clerical workers, machine operators, minor professionals, technicians, or semiskilled workers, suggesting the moderation of job type between job characteristics and worker outcomes predicted by our study. Job type is also expected to be a moderator for skill variety-worker outcome relationships due to differing expectations for the amount of skill variety anticipated across job types which may impede the beneficial effects of skill variety on worker outcomes that have been found in JCM research (e.g., Bos, Donders, Schouteten, & van der Gulden, 2013;Lambert & Paoline, 2008) for blue-collar jobs.…”