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Angelique E. de Rijk*, Pascale M. Le Blanc and Wilmar B. Schaufeli
Utrecht University, Department of Clinical Psychology and Health Psychology, PO Box 80,140 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Empirical research on Karasek's job demand-control (JD-C) model has often failed to demonstrate the predicted interaction effect of high job demands and low job control on measures of strain. It has been suggested that the conceptualization of the control dimension as well as the neglect of workers' individual characteristics in the JD-C model may be responsible for its relative lack of empirical support. In the current study among 367 Dutch nurses from 18 intensive care units, a more focused measure of control was used. In addition, two individual characteristics (i.e. active coping and need for control) were included as potential moderators in the JD-C model. The demand-control interaction effect as predicted by the JD-C model could not be demonstrated. However, active coping turned out to moderate the interaction between job demands and job control. A misfit between level of control and individual coping style intensified the stressenhancing effect of job demands. Further research on the extension of the JD-C model with personal characteristics is recommended.
The job demand-control (JD-C) model of job strain has been widely tested since its introduction by Karasek in 1979. This model assumes two main hypotheses: (1) the combination of high job demands along with low job control precipitates psychological and physical strain (`high strain' jobs); (2) jobs in which both demands and control are high produce well-being, learning and personal growth ('active' jobs) (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). So, according to the JD-C model, job demands and job control combine interactively rather than additively in predicting job-related outcomes.
However, empirical support for the JD-C model is inconclusive (Jones & Fletcher, 1996). Early studies in large and heterogeneous samples using American, Swedish and Finnish data showed moderate empirical support for the JD-C model (Karasek, 1979, 1981; Karasek,, Baker, Marxer, Ahlbom & Theorell, 1981; Kauppinen-Toropainen, Kandolin & Mutanen, 1983), whereas more recent studies in similar samples failed to confirm the essential interaction of job demands and job control (Pieper, LaCroix & Karasek, 1989; Reed, LaCroix, Karasek, Miller & MacLean, 1989). The JD-C model has also been tested cross-sectionally in somewhat smaller and...