A confirmatory investigation of a job demands-resources model was conducted with alternative methods, in a sample of 15, 633 working adults aggregated from various economic sectors. The proposed model is in line with job demands-resources theory and assumes two psychological processes at work which are collectively coined “the dual process.” The first process, the energetic, presents that job demands lead to ill-health outcomes due to burnout. The second process, the motivational, indicates that job resources lead to organizational commitment due to work engagement. Structural equation modelling analyses were implemented with a categorical estimator. Mediation analyses of each of the processes included bootstrapped indirect effects and kappa-squared values to apply qualitative labels to effect sizes. The relationship between job resources and organizational commitment was mediated by engagement with a large effect. The relationship between job demands and ill-health was mediated by burnout with a medium effect. The implications of the results for theory and practice were discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AryeeS.SrinivasE. S.TanH. H., (2005) Rhythms of life: antecedents and outcomes of work-family balance in employed parents. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90,132–146.
2.
BarkerA. B.DemeroutiE. (2007) The Job Demands-Resources model: state of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22, 309–328.
3.
BarkerA. B.DemeroutiE.EuwemaM. C. (2005) Job resources buffer the impact of job demands on burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10,170–180.
4.
BarrerA. B.DemeroutiE.TarisT.SchaufeliW. B.SchreursP. (2003) A multi-group analysis of the job demands-resources model in four home care organizations. International Journal of Stress Management, 10, 16–38.
5.
BarrerA. B.HaranenJ. J.DemeroutiE.XanthopoulouD. (2007) Job resources boost work engagement particularly when job demands are high. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 274–284.
6.
BandalosD. L. (2002) The effects of item parceling on goodness-of-fit and parameter estimate bias in structural equation modeling. Educational Psychology Papers and Publications. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/edpsychpapers/65.
7.
BandalosD. L.FinneyS. J. (2001) Item parceling issues in structural equation modeling. In MarcoulidesG. A.SchumackerR. E. (Eds.), Advanced structural equation modeling: new developments and techniques. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
8.
BaronR. M.KennyD. A. (1986) The moderator-mediator distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
9.
BoydC. M.BarrerA. B.PignataS.WinefieldA. H.GillespieN.StoughC. (2011) A longitudinal test of the Job Demands-Resources model among Australian university academics. Applied Psychology: an International Review, 60, 112–140.
10.
BurreR. J.RichardsenA. M. (1993) Psychological burnout in organizations. In GolembiewskiR. T. (Ed.), Handbook of organizational behaviour. New York: Marcel Dekker. Pp. 263–299.
11.
CohenJ. (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. (2nd ed.) New York: Academic Press.
12.
CudecrR.BrowneM. W. (1993) Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In BollenK.A.Scott LongJ. (Eds.), Testing structural equation models. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
13.
de BeerL. T. (2012) Job demands-resources theory, health, and well-being in South Africa. Unpublished manuscript, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.
14.
DemeroutiE.BarrerA. B.NachreinerF.SchaufeliW. B. (2001) The Job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 499–512.
15.
FloraD. B.CurranP. J. (2004) An empirical evaluation of alternative methods of estimation for confirmatory factor analysis with ordinal data. Psychological Methods, 9, 466–491.
16.
FourieL.RothmannS.van de VijverA. J. R. (2008) A model of work wellness for non-professional counsellors in South Africa. Stress and Health, 24, 35–47.
17.
FrenchJ. R. P.Jr.KaplanR. D.HarrisonR. V. (1982) The mechanisms of job stress and strain. Chichester: Wiley.
18.
HakanenJ.BarkerA. B.SchaufeliW. B. (2006) Burnout and work engagement among teachers. The Journal of School Psychology, 43, 495–513.
19.
HakanenJ. J.SchaufeliW. B.AholaK. (2008) The job demands-resources model: a three-year cross-lagged study of burnout, depression, commitment, and work engagement. Work & Stress, 22, 224–241.
20.
HayesA. F. (2009) Beyond Baron and Kenny: statistical mediation analysis in the new millennium. Communication Monographs, 76, 408–420.
21.
HoyleR. H. (1995) The structural equation modeling approach: basic concepts and fundamental issues. In HoyleR. H. (Ed.), Structural equation modeling, concepts, issues, and applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Pp. 1–15.
22.
JacksonL. T. B.RothmannS. (2005) Work-related well-being of teachers in a district of the North West Province. Perspectives in Education, 23, 107–122.
23.
JacksonL. T. B.RothmannS.Van De VijverA. J. R. (2006) A model of work-related well-being for educators in South Africa. Stress and Health, 22, 263–274.
24.
KarasekR. A. (1979) Job demand, job decision latitude, and mental strain: implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 285–308.
25.
KelleyK. (2007a) Confidence intervals for standardized effect sizes: theory, application, and implementation. Journal of Statistical Soáware, 20, 1–24.
26.
KelleyK (2007b) Methods for the behavioral, educational, and social sciences: an R package. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 979–984.
27.
KelleyK.LaiK. (2010) MBESS (Version 3.2.0). Retrieved from http://www.cran.r-project.org/. [Computer software and manual]
28.
LeiterM. P.SchaufeliW. B. (1996) Consistency of the burnout construct across occupations. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 9, 229–243.
29.
LlorensS.BarkerA. B.SchaufeliW.SalanovaM. (2006) Testing the robustness of the job demands-resources model. International Journal of Stress Management, 13, 378–391.
30.
MacKinnonD. P.LockwoodC. M.WilliamsJ. (2004) Confidence limits for the indirect effect: distribution of the product and resampling methods. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39, 99–128.
31.
MarshH. W. (2007) Application of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling in sport/exercise psychology. In TenenbaumG.EklundR. C. (Eds.), Handbook of sport psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley. Pp. 774–798.
32.
MarshH. W.HauK. T.GraysonD. (2005) Goodness-of-fit Evaluation in Structural Equation Modeling. In Maydeu-OlivaresA.McCardleJ. (Eds.), Contemporary psychometrics: a Festschrift to Roderick P. McDonald. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 225–340.
33.
MaunoS.KinnunenU.RuokolainenM. (2007) Job demands and job resources as antecedents of work engagement: a longitudinal study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70, 149–171.
34.
MontgomeryA.MostertK.JacksonL. T. B. (2005) Burnout and health of primary school educators in the North West Province. South African Journal of Education, 25, 266–272.
35.
MostertK.CronjeS.PienaarJ. (2006) Job resources, work engagement, and the mediating role of positive work-home interaction of police officers in the North West Province. Acta Criminologica, 19, 64–87.
36.
MostertK.JoubertA. F. (2005) Job stress, burnout, and coping strategies in the South African Police Service. South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, 8, 39–53.
37.
MuthenB.du ToitS. H. C.SpisicD. (1997) Robust inference using weighted least squares and quadratic estimating equations in latent variable modeling with categorical and continuous outcomes. Accepted for publication in Psychometrika.
38.
MuthénL. K.MuthénB. O. (1998-2010) Mplus user's guide. (6th ed.) Los AngelesMuthén & Muthén.
NiemandY. (2008) A model of work-related well-being in the chemical industry. Unpublished master's dissertation, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.
41.
NunnallyJ. C.BernsteinI. H. (1994) Psychometric theory. (3rd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.
42.
PreacherK. J.KelleyK. (2011) Effect sizes measures for mediation models: quantitative strategies for communicating indirect effects. Psychological Methods, 16, 93–115.
43.
R Development Core Team. (2010) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: Author.
44.
RothmannS. (2002) Burnout and engagement: a fortigenic perspective. Inaugural lecture presented at the North-West University, Potchefstroom.
RothmannS.JorgensenL. (2007) A model of work-related well-being for police members in the North West Province. Acta Criminologia, 20, 73–84.
47.
RothmannS.MostertK.StrydomM. (2006) A psychometric evaluation of the job demands-resources scale in South Africa. South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, 32, 76–86.
48.
RothmannS.RothmannJ. C. (2007) The South African Employee Health and Wellness Survey (SAEHWS): user manual. (4th ed.) Potchefstroom, South Africa: Afriforte.
49.
RuckerD. D.PreacherK. J.TormalaZ. L.PettyR. E. (2011) Mediation analysis in social psychology: current practices and new recommendations. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5/6, 359–371.
50.
SchaufeliW. B.BarkerA. B. (2004) Job demands, job resources and their relationship with burnout and engagement: a multi-sample study. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 25, 293–315.
51.
SchaufeliW. B.EnzmannD. (1998) The burnout companion to study and practice: a critical analysis. London: Taylor & Francis.
52.
SchaufeliW. B.TarisT. W. (2005) The conceptualization and measurement of burnout: common ground and worlds apart. Work & Stress, 19, 256–262.
53.
ShaughnessyJ. J.ZechmeisterE. B.ZechmeisterJ. S. (2003) Research methods in psychology. (6th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.
54.
ShroutP. E.BolgerN. (2002) Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: new procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 7, 422–445.
55.
SiegristJ. (1996) Adverse health effects of high effort-low reward conditions at work. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1, 27–43.
Van SchalkwykL.ElsC.RothmannS.Jr. (2011) The moderating role of perceived organisational support in the relationship between workplace bullying and turnover intention across sectors in South Africa. South Africa Journal of Human Resource Management, 9, 1–13.
58.
Van VegchelN.de JongeJ.BosmaH.SchaufeliW. B. (2005) Reviewing the effort-reward imbalance model: drawing up the balance of 45 empirical studies. Social Science and Medicine, 60, 1117–1131.
59.
Van WykA. (2008) Work wellness, absenteeism and productivity in a call centre in the insurance industry. Unpublished master's thesis, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.
60.
WilliamsJ.MackinnonD. P. (2008) Resampling and distribution of the product methods for testing indirect effects in complex models. Structural Equation Modeling, 15, 23–51.
61.
WrightT. A.HobfollS. E. (2004) Commitment, psychological well-being and job performance: an examination of conservation of resources (COR) theory and job burnout. Journal of Business and Management, 9, 389–406.
62.
XanthopoulouD.BarkerA. B.DollardM. F.DemeroutiE.SchaufeliW. B.TarisT. W.SchreursP. J. G. (2007) When do job demands particularly predict burnout? The moderating role of job resources. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22, 766–786.
