The Demand-Control Model: Specific Demands ... - Study at UniSA

Demand-Control Model279direction (see Figure 1). More specifically, three interaction effects representedthe strain diagonal of the DCM, whereas the other three interactions reflectedthe active learning diagonal. In four out of six interactions, emotional demandsand job control represented the interaction effect. With one exception, theseinteractive findings showed in general that the combination of high job demandsand low job control gives rise to high emotional exhaustion and high psychosomatichealth complaints, while the combination of high demands and high controlis conducive to high job challenge and, to a lesser extent, high job satisfaction.Remarkable, however, was the interaction effect between emotionaldemands and job control in the prediction of psychosomatic health complaints(health care sector). This interaction effect showed that emotional demands andpsychosomatic health complaints were negatively related at low levels of jobcontrol, whereas they were positively related at high levels of job control.Finally, Table 5 shows the explained variance (R 2 ) for the four psychologicaloutcomes within each subgroup, as well as within the total group. The explainedvariance was highest for the burnout component “emotional exhaustion”and lowest for job satisfaction. In general, explained variance was somewhathigher at the subgroup level when compared to the total sample level. As far asthe first three outcomes are concerned, the explained variance was higher at thesubgroup level than at the total sample level in all but one of the cases (i.e.,four out of five). With regard to psychosomatic health complaints, in three outof five cases the explained variance appeared to be higher at the subgroup level.DISCUSSIONThe main purpose of this study was to test the Demand-Control Model,accompanied by three secondary goals. First, we used alternative, more focused,and multifaceted measures of both job demands and job control relevant andapplicable to present-day working contexts. Second, this study intended to focuson emotional demands in human services work and to incorporate these demandsin the DCM. Finally, this occupation-based study investigated relativelylarge well-defined subgroups compared to a total sample. More specifically, thestudy hypotheses were that (1) different types of job demands (i.e., workload,physical demands, emotional demands) in combination with multifaceted jobcontrol have an interaction effect with respect to psychological well-being, and(2) interactions will be found only in well-described, relatively homogeneousgroups with sufficient variability in job characteristics.In some cases, joint moderating effects of demands and control on psychologicalwell-being exist, thereby providing some evidence for the two DCMhypotheses. Specifically, it appears that job demands and job control are able toshow several interaction effects, but only in specific occupational groups. These