Job design and job stress in office workers

A model to look at various job components that affect individual well-being and health was developed drawing from the job design and job stress literature. Briefly stated, the model proposes job control to be a primary causal determinant of the stress outcomes. The effects of perceived demands, job content, and career/future concerns were hypothesized to influence the stress outcomes only to the extent of their influence on job control. This was tested in a population of government office employees in various clerical, professional, and managerial jobs all of which involve the use of computers. Results indicated that job control was not a crucial determinant of the stress outcomes, that job demands and career/future concerns were consistent determinants of the stress outcomes, and that job content, demands, and career/future concerns did not influence the stress outcomes through job control as described by the proposed model. The differentiation of job control levels to define specific relationships with stress outcomes and other job elements was shown to be useful because different levels of job control were associated with different stress outcomes and job elements.