Individual Characteristics Influencing Physicians' Perceptions of Job Demands and Control: The Role of Affectivity, Work Engagement and Workaholism.

Dina Guglielmi,Wilmar Schaufeli,Roberta Biolcati,Caryn Vallesi,Greta Mazzetti

doi:10.3390/ijerph13060567

Abstract

The first purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of individual characteristics, i.e., positive and negative affectivity, in explaining the different perception of job control and job demands in a particularly demanding environment such as the healthcare setting. In addition, we aimed to explore the mediational role of work engagement and workaholism using the Job Demands-Resources Model as a theoretical framework. Data were collected using a sample of 269 Italian head physicians working in nine general hospitals. To test our hypotheses, the collected data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Moreover, Sobel Test and bootstrapping were employed to assess the mediating hypotheses. Our results indicated that positive affectivity is related to work engagement, which, in its turn, showed a positive association with job control. In addition, workaholism mediated the relationship between negative affectivity and job demands. All in all, this study represents a first attempt to explore the role of trait affectivity as a dispositional characteristic able to foster the level of work engagement and workaholism exhibited by employees and, in turn, to increase the perceived levels of job control and job demands.

Highlights

Past research has focused on job characteristics that impact both positive and negative work-related outcomes
This study represents a first attempt to explore the role of trait affectivity as a dispositional characteristic able to foster the level of work engagement and workaholism exhibited by employees and, in turn, to increase the perceived levels of job control and job demands
A three-way longitudinal study provided further support to this evidence by showing that engagement among teachers may positively affect the perception of the opportunities to learn and develop in the workplace and employees’ faculty to influence their work [51]. These results extend the motivational process postulated by the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model with concrete evidence that work engagement may be conceived as an antecedent of the perceived job resources

Summary

Introduction

Past research has focused on job characteristics that impact both positive and negative work-related outcomes. Demanding aspects of one’s job such as work pressure, emotional demands, and role ambiguity were found to relate significantly with job burnout [1] and psychological health symptoms [2]. Model [5] identified two broad categories of job characteristics as major antecedents of employees’. Strain (e.g., job burnout) and motivation (e.g., work engagement), these categories refer to job demands and resources. The JD-R model has been applied extensively to the study of the influence of job demands and resources on a wide range of organizational and individual outcomes. Empirical evidence suggests that individual dispositions may significantly impact on work engagement and workaholism, Int. J. Public Health 2016, 13, 567; doi:10.3390/ijerph13060567 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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