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.
Parker
S K
SK
Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. sharonp@agsm.edu.au
Sprigg
C A
CA
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001242:Assertiveness; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D011340:Problem Solving; D012649:Self Concept; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology*