Overcommitment as a predictor of effort–reward imbalance: evidence from an 8-year follow-up study

Abstract

Overcommitment as a predictor of effort-reward imbalance: evidence from an 8-year follow-up study by Feldt T, Hyvönen K, Mäkikangas A, Rantanen J, Huhtala M, Kinnunen UThe present study makes a significant contribution to job strain research by showing that employees' perceptions of failed reciprocity (effort-reward imbalance) can have their origins in their intrinsic overcommitment. We suggest, when implementing interventions, organizations should take into account the dynamic nature of employees' job strain experiences, and particularly the role of individual differences in overcommitment. Affiliation 309Original article Scand J Work Environ Health. 2016;42(4):309-319. doi:10.5271/sjweh.3575 Overcommitment as a predictor of effort-reward imbalance: evidence from an 8-year follow-up study Objective The effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model includes the personal characteristic of overcommitment (OC) and the job-related characteristics of effort, reward, and ERI, all of which are assumed to play a role in an employee's health and well-being at work. The aim of the present longitudinal study was to shed more light on the dynamics of the ERI model by investigating the basic hypotheses related to the role of OC in the model, ie, to establish whether an employee's OC could be a risk factor for an increased experience of high effort, low reward, and high ERI at work. Results Three cross-lagged structural equation models (SEM) were estimated and compared by using full information maximum likelihood method: (i) OC predicted later experiences of effort, reward, and ERI (normal causation model), (ii) effort, reward, and ERI predicted later OC (reversed causation model), and (iii) associations in normal causal and reversed causal models were simultaneously valid (reciprocal causation model). The results supported the normal causation model: strong OC predicted later experiences of high effort, low reward and high ERI. MethodsConclusions High OC is a risk factor for an increased experience of job strain factors; that is, high effort, low reward, and high ERI. Thus, OC is a risk factor not only for an employee's well-being and health but also for an increasing risk for perceiving adverse job strain factors in the working environment.

Profiling development of burnout over eight years: relation with job demands and resources

“…Their average age was 31 years (SD = 3.2, range 24-36) and 85% of them were male. The response rate was 43.4% at T1 (for more details and attrition analyses, see Feldt et al, 2016;Hyvönen et al, 2009).…”

Psychosocial work environment and oxidative stress among nurses’

“…Overcommitment was considered as a predictor of ERI by some researchers as highly overcommitted employees tend to invest much effort in their work over the appropriate levels and judge their extrinsic rewards to be low as a result, they perceive ERI 31) . Accordingly, the MDA might reach significant levels in the ERI group with prolonged overcommitment, especially as MDA levels were positively correlated with E/R ratios.…”

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