Dual Autonomy and Latent Deprivation: Extending Self-Determination Theory and the Job Demands-Resources Model

Self-Determination Theory treats autonomy as a unitary construct, the Job Demands-Resources model does not engage with autonomy directly, and the curiosity literature describes exploratory motivation without specifying its structural relationship to either demands or autonomy. This paper proposes that these three traditions can be productively linked through a dual-autonomy framework. Drawing on the JDR model's analysis of demand structures, curiosity psychology's taxonomies of exploratory motivation, and SDT's account of basic psychological needs, the paper argues that autonomy operates in two functionally distinct modes: one governing how demands are experienced, and one governing whether curiosity-driven exploration remains available. These two modes can be independently satisfied or frustrated, and their interaction generates stress profiles that no single existing tradition predicts - including a candidate account of burnout among highly engaged workers. The paper develops this proposal by distinguishing demands by origin, curiosity by its structural relationship to demands, and need satisfaction by domain, specifying how each distinction makes the dual-autonomy claim visible. Seven testable propositions and an operationalization strategy are offered, along with explicit conditions under which the framework would require revision.