Ravalier PhD Theis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

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2. Active Jobs: high demands plus high decision latitude develops learning and greater
control thus allowing individuals to develop coping strategies and increase
satisfaction.
The model therefore assumes that control plays a moderating role in
workplace stress, allowing individuals to adapt to and improve upon
working situations (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). De Croon et al. (2002)
conducted a study designed to re-evaluate the interactional effect of job
demands and control on psychosomatic health complaints. Participants
were 1000 Dutch truck drivers, with job demands and control assessed via
specifically-tailored measures. The study found significant job demandsby
job control interactional effects, and also that job demands and job
control had an effect on psychosomatic health complaints, supporting the
original JDC model’s interactional hypothesis. Similarly Bond and Bunce
(2001) conducted a 12-month longitudinal quasi-experimental study and
found that increased control led to decreased levels of stress and
improvement in work-related outcomes. Despite this, the hypothesis for
interactive effects between demands and control has often received
contradictory support (McClenahan, Giles & Mallett, 2007). For example,
Elsass & Veiga (1997) found little support for an interaction between job
control and job demands among their sample of 316 health care workers.
In an attempt to further expand the model and understand the
relationship between job demands and strain, the JDC model was
developed to include social support. This expanded Job Demands-Control-
Social Support (JDCS) model argues that individuals in jobs which are
characterised by high demands, low decision latitude and low levels of
social support are more likely to experience stress and stress-related
outcomes (Johnson & Hall, 1988; Johnson, Hall & Theorell, 1989). This is
known as the iso-strain hypothesis. The revised model has received
empirical support from many sources. For example, Pierce and Molloy
(1996) found that teachers who experienced high levels of burnout
reported low social support, and that those with low levels of burnout had
high levels of social support. Similarly, Collins, Coffey & Morris (2010)
highlighted the importance of the support offered to social work students