Burnout and engagement at work as a function of demands and control

The present study was designed to test the demand-control model using indicators of both health impairment and active learning or motivation.

A total of 381 insurance company employees participated in the study. Discriminant analysis was used to examine the relationship between job demands and job control on one hand and health impairment and active learning on the other.

The amount of demands and control could be predicted on the basis of employees' perceived health impairment (exhaustion and health complaints) and active learning (engagement and commitment). Each of the four combinations of demand and control differentially affected the perception of strain or active learning. Job demands were the most clearly related to health impairment, whereas job control was the most clearly associated with active learning.

These findings partly contradict the demand-control model, especially with respect to the validity of the interaction between demand and control. Job demands and job control seem to initiate two essentially independent processes, and this occurrence is consistent with the recently proposed job demands-resources model.