On the Dynamics of the Psychosocial Work Environment and Employee Well-Being: A Latent Transition Approach.

Ieva Urbanaviciute,Koorosh Massoudi,Cecilia Toscanelli,Hans De Witte

doi:10.3390/ijerph18094744

Abstract

The current study investigates employee well-being in stable versus changing psychosocial working conditions, using the Job Demand-Control theoretical framework. It thereby addresses a gap in the literature dealing with how the dynamics of the work environment may affect different aspects of well-being, such as job satisfaction, work stress, mental health complaints, and overall quality of life. The study was carried out on a large heterogeneous sample of employees in Switzerland (N = 959) and was based on two measurement points. Latent profile and latent transition analyses were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed three commonly encountered and temporally quite stable patterns of job characteristics (i.e., latent profiles), defined by low, average, or high job control and average job demands. The average demand-low control combination was the most precarious, whereas a combination of average demands and high control was the most beneficial and it clearly outperformed the balanced average demands-average control pattern. Furthermore, our results partially supported the claim that employee well-being is contingent on the dynamics (i.e., transition scenarios) of the psychosocial work environment. They particularly highlight the central role of job resources in preventing the deleterious effects on well-being, which may occur even in relatively mild situations where job demands are not excessive.

Highlights

Psychosocial working conditions refer to important job characteristics in terms of content and work organisation [1]
The current study provides an insight into the ways vulnerability and flourishing at work take place by unravelling the dynamic relationship between the work environment and employee well-being
The current study has identified three patterns of job characteristics denoting salient low, average, and high job control resources and average job demands

Summary

Introduction

Psychosocial working conditions refer to important job characteristics in terms of content and work organisation [1]. They may be classified into job demands, such as heavy workload, and job resources, such as autonomy or opportunities to develop and apply one’s skills [2,3]. Job demands and resources do not act in isolation—they are thought to interact in creating a (un)favourable work environment. This leads to an implication that different combinations of job characteristics should be considered when investigating their role in employee outcomes [5]. Even longitudinal investigations tend to overlook the changing nature of the work environment per se, ignoring whether a given combination of job demands and resources is persistent and how this may affect employee well-being

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