The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model (Bakker and colleagues) has received increasing attention in recent years, yet there is a distinct literature gap regarding its utility and value towards the international work context. In line with this, understanding how to design jobs representing enhanced climates of work engagement for internationally operating staff alludes practitioners. This thesis therefore aims to substantiate the claim that previous research applying the JD-R model has neglected the international work context and evaluate whether the model has potential to be used as a framework for managing burnout, work engagement and related outcomes beyond the use in solely national contexts. In order to do so, two review studies (systematic and meta-analytic) and two empirical studies (qualitative and quantitative) are conducted of the JD-R model in the international work context. Findings suggest: that existing JD-R literature does not consider the international work context, highlighting a distinct literature gap requiring attention, in order to achieve a holistic understanding of the model and its applicability; strong meta-analytic support for the JD-R model and the impact of variation in the international work context represented by dimensions of national culture; the JD-R model has potential for responding to the management of burnout and work engagement for international business travelers but may benefit from theoretical amendments that focus the models utility and direct scholarly research and practitioner approaches; that the model may not be as valuable as assumed for the international business traveler context, yet it is worth considering the findings in light of relevant literature and possible limitations. Overall, the findings suggest a distinct need for more research examining the JD-R model in the international work context. A number of potential theoretical amendments are suggested in a conceptual internationalized JD-R model that can be used as a foundation for future empirical work to establish the boundaries of the model and its utility. From a practitioner perspective, until more research is conducted, JD-R principles should be applied with caution. As a whole, this thesis encompasses theoretical, empirical and practical contributions relevant for scholarly and practitioner communities which can be built upon over time with regards to the proposed conceptual model.

The mining industry is driven by performance and intense working environments, accompanied by high demands, hazardous working conditions and socially undesirable working hours. These factors could impact on the interaction between work and home, as well as contributing to health problems of employees. The objectives of this research were to test the construct validity, construct equivalence and reliability of a work-home interaction measuring instrument, the Survey Work-Home Interaction - Nijmegen (SWING), to determine if work-home interaction differences exist between different demographical groups, and to test a structural model of job characteristics (job demands and job resources), ill health and negative work-home interference. Random samples (n = 320) were taken from employees working in the mining industry (gold, platinum and phosphate mines) in the Gauteng, North West and Northern provinces. The SWING, a self-developed job characteristics questionnaire and an adapted version of the General Health Questionnaire were administered. Structural equation modelling, descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse the data. Structural equation modelling confirmed the four-factor structure of the SWING and the construct equivalence for two language and ethnic groups. The four factors showed acceptable internal consistencies. Statistically significant differences were found based on age, ethnicity, gender, qualification, marital and parental status, language, flexibility at work and whether individuals had a partner with a paid job. Regarding the structural model, the results showed that job demands and job resources have an impact on ill health, and that ill health is associated with negative WHI. It was also found that job demands and job resources have a direct relationship with negative WHI on their own, but when both high demands and a lack of resources are present, only an indirect relationship with negative WHI exists though ill health. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

The tertiary education environment has become known for its stressful working conditions. Factors such as high work demands (i.e. work overload, excessive time demands and work pressure) and insufficient resources (i.e. limited developmental possibilities, poor performance feedback, lack of support, etc.) all contribute to these stressful circumstances. As a result, these circumstances can cause employees to experience negative interferences between their work and nonwork roles. In addition, employees do not have adequate time to invest in their nonwork domains, hence nonwork roles are neglected (such as being a parent, being a spouse, spending time on domestic activities and spending time on religious/spiritual activities). To decrease these negative interferences, it is important for employees to recover from strains that were activated at work. The objectives of this study were to determine 1) which demands and resources significantly predicted work-nonwork interference among employees working in a tertiary education institution; and 2) which recovery strategies were significant in dealing with high levels of work-nonwork interference caused by high demands and a lack of resources. A random sample of 366 married parents was taken from a tertiary education institution in the North-West Province. A list was obtained of all the married parents of the institution. All of these employees were given the choice to participate in the research. A measuring battery measuring job demands (i.e. work pressure, emotional demands and cognitive demands), job resources (i.e. autonomy, social support and developmental possibilities), work-nonwork interference (i.e. work-parent, work-spouse, work-domestic and work-religion/spirituality) and recovery strategies (psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery and control) respectively was utilised in this study. Descriptive and inferential statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations and stepwise multiple regression, using the enter method, were used to analyse the data. The results indicate that work pressure and emotional demands significantly predict interference between all four nonwork roles. Additionally, autonomy and developmental possibilities significantly predicted work-parent and work-religion/spirituality interference respectively. Furthermore, all of the recovery strategies decreased specific worknonwork interference. Psychological detachment decreased the interference between the workspouse relationship and the work-religion/spirituality relationship. Relaxation predicted the decrease of interference between the following relationships: work-parent, work-spouse, and work-domestic. Mastery and control only significantly predicted the decrease of interference between the work-parent relationship and between the work-domestic activities respectively. Various recommendations were made for tertiary education institutions as well as for future research. Tertiary education institutions should manage high job demands by examining employees’ workload and job descriptions. Managers could possibly diminish work pressure and emotional demands by means of courses/workshops pertaining to self-management, time and organisational skills, emotional intelligence and/or coping with emotions. Tertiary education institutions should also focus on supporting employees who experience work-nonwork interferences and manage it effectively. In addition, the awareness of recovery and various recovery strategies should be promoted. Recommendations for future research include expanding the research to other occupational groups, longitudinal research designs, obtaining various opinions and perspectives of individuals also involved in the work-nonwork dyad and the study of the positive interaction between the work and nonwork roles. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

I Sverige upplever sjuksköterskor höga nivåer av psykosociala arbetsmiljörelaterade besvär. Kliniskt ledarskap är ett relativt nytt, obeforskat begrepp som syftar till att identifiera ledarskapsbeteenden hos sjuksköterskor. Det saknas dock forskning om dess eventuella samband med psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer. Föreliggande studies syfte är därför att undersöka hur upplevd stress, arbetskrav och work-family conflict predicerar kliniskt ledarskap hos sjuksköterskor i offentlig vård. För att undersöka detta svarade 239 sjuksköterskor på en webbenkät, där de skattade sin upplevda stress, arbetskrav, work-family conflict och kliniska ledarskap. Arbetsmiljövariablerna användes som prediktorer i en standard MRA med kliniskt ledarskap som utfallsvariabel. Resultaten visade att modellen förklarar 9,5 % av kliniskt ledarskap, där upplevd stress och känslomässiga krav är signifikanta enskilda prediktorer. Resultaten diskuteras bland annat utifrån tidigare forskning om stress, eget ledarskap och kliniskt ledarskap samt arbetskrav utifrån krav-kontroll modellen. / In Sweden, nurses experience high levels of troubles related to the psychosocial work environment. Clinical leadership is a new concept, which aims to identify leadership behaviors for nurses. However, there is a lack of studies about its possible relationship with psychosocial work environmental factors. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how perceived stress, work demands and work-family conflict predict clinical leadership in nurses in public sector health care. In this study, 239 nurses participated in a web-based questionnaire, where they rated perceived stress, work demands, work-family conflict and clinical leadership. The work environment variables were used as predictors in a standard MRA with clinical leadership as the dependent variable. Results showed that the model explained 9,5 % of clinical leadership, with perceived stress and emotional demands as significant predictors. Findings are discussed based on previous research on stress, self-leadership and clinical leadership, and job demands based on the Demand-Control model.

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom (IPS) / The construction industry plays a crucial role in the South African economy. In this high-risk industry, a lack of engagement by employees can have serious and costly health and safety consequences. Because construction companies work under conditions of tight deadlines and stringent requirements, executives and managers are often unable to reduce the demands on their employees. Hence, if employees are to increase their own levels of work engagement (and so improve health, promote safety, and guard against burnout), they need to exert personal agency by recrafting their own jobs. The term job crafting refers to proactive employee behaviours that seek to optimise the work environment, frequently by addressing the balance between job demands and job resource. Previous literature suggests that employees who use job crafting behaviours show higher work engagement, lower disengagement, more positive emotions, and better adaptive performance.

Cette recherche visait à mieux appréhender la déviance constructive selon Galperin (2003). Ce construit se chevauchant avec d’autres comportements hors prescrit en milieux organisationnels, comportements de citoyenneté organisationnelle (CCO, Organ, 1988) et de déviance destructive (Robinson & Bennett, 1995), nous avons choisi de les étudier également. Nous avons d'abord examiné la littérature relative à ces comportements. Puis, nous avons étudié différents déterminants attitudinaux et de perception de situation de travail pouvant leur être associés, ainsi que leurs éventuelles relations avec l’épuisement professionnel. Rappelant différents modèles de stress, nous nous sommes intéressés à la Théorie de la Conservation des Ressources (Hobfoll, 1988), dans sa proposition de lecture salutogénique de la santé au travail. Notre revue de littérature s’est achevée par l’étude de la valorisation perçue des CCO et de la déviance constructive. Notre étude 1 (151 salariés en poste en relation avec du public) explore la façon dont exigences (tensions de rôles perçues), ressources (sentiment d’efficacité personnelle, autonomie dans le travail perçue) et implications professionnelles(organisationnelle affective et dans le métier) déterminent les comportements de citoyenneté organisationnelle orientée vers les individus et de déviance (destructive et constructive), et dont ces comportements déterminent, à leur tour, l’apparition d’un épuisement professionnel.Les études 2 et 3 interrogent la perception de l’incidence de CCO et de déviance constructive sur l’évaluation produite en provenance des supérieurs hiérarchiques (étude 2, 194 salariés) et des collègues de travail (étude 3, 168 salariés) et l’effet du mode de direction organisationnel sur celle-ci. Les résultats de ces études quantitatives sont discutés, limites et perspectives présentées par chapitre. Une discussion générale propose, pour finir, d’en dégager les enseignements clés. / The aim of this study was to appraise the constructive deviance according to Galperin (2003). As this construct has in common non prescribed behaviors in organizational environments, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB, Organ, 1988) and destructive workplace deviance (Robinson & Bennett, 1995), we found interesting to study them as well. Then we focused on different attitudinal determinants and perception of workplace situations which could be compared to it, and their hypothetical relationship with the burn out. Recalling different stress models, we examined the Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1988), and particularly his salutogenic perspective of health at work. We achieved our review with the study of the perceived value of the OCB and constructive deviance. Our first study (151 workers related to public) explores how job demands (perceived role tensions), resources (feeling of job selfefficacy, perceived autonomy) and professional commitment (organizational affective and occupational) determine organizational citizenship behaviors directed towards individuals and workplace deviance (destructive and constructive), and how the behaviors determine in turn burn out. Through study 2 and 3, we examined the perception of the incidence of OCB and constructive deviance on the appraisal of the managers (study 2, 194 workers), coworkers (study 3, 168 workers) and the effect of the organization on it. The results, limits and perspectives are discussed in each chapter. The key learnings are highlighted in the general discussion.

Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The aim of this study was to examine and compare job demand and resource perception of hospital employees in Iceland and Sweden as well as their self-efficacy and intention to quit. These variables have high predictability for attitudes and behavior. Since the two countries were impacted differently by the global financial crisis of 2008, it is interesting to investigate whether these factors differ between them. A cross-sectional data was collected in public hospitals among specialized and unspecialized healthcare employees who responded to a self-administrated questionnaire. Quantitative methodology was used to analyze the differences between the groups. A MANOVA revealed no significant differences in resource perception, self-efficacy and intention to quit. However, unexpectedly, perception of job demands was significantly higher in Sweden. The literature behind this comparison sheds a light on how work conditions and employee well-being can be improved by managing resources and demands. It yields insight into how improvements can be wrought in such a complex system as healthcare in times of financial restrictions. On a practical level, this study emphasizes the importance of fair demands and good resources as a key to well-being because balanced levels of these factors enable employees to respond effectively to their work environment, be more satisfied, motivated, have high self-efficacy and be less likely to quit their jobs. Finally, areas were identified where future research is needed.

工作要求－資源模型(JD-R model)為近年來受歡迎的工作壓力模型，並強調能適用進各工作場域，但多是以歐洲的員工為樣本來檢驗假設，故本研究以台灣企業員工為樣本，檢驗JD-R model，並釐清個人資源在模型中扮演的角色。以279 個台灣企業員工為樣本檢驗工作特徵、員工心理福祉、與表現的關係，並討論個人資源的角色。以階層迴歸分析檢驗的結果支持工作要求與工作資源能分別預測耗竭與投入，但兩者並無交互作用關係；又表現可由投入的程度來預測，耗竭對員工表現則無影響；除此之外，本研究亦發現個人資源對投入及角色內、角色外表現有直接效果、且與工作要求有交互作用關係。這些結果顯示以台灣員工檢驗JD-R model 時，無法完全支持其假設，但也發現個人資源在檢驗員工心理福祉的程度時有其作用及重要性。未來的研究可著重在討論文化因素是否造成差異。 / Job Demands-Resources Model (JD-R model) is a popular work-stress related model that claims can be adapted into all-kinds of work environment, but tested mostly with European employees. The current research intended to test the basic hypotheses of JD-R model with Taiwanese employees and to clarify the role of personal resources in the model. 279 Taiwanese employees are included in the tested sample to examine the relationship between job characteristics, employees’ well-being, and performance, and also have a discussion about the role of personal resources. The results of hierarchical regression analysis supported that job demands and job resources can predict exhaustion and engagement respectively. However, there is no interaction effect between job demands and job resources were found. Moreover, performance can be predicted by engagement, while exhaustion can’t. Besides, the present research found that personal resources have direct effects on engagement, in-role performance, out-role performance, and an interaction effect with job demands on exhaustion. These findings revealed that the basic hypotheses cannot be fully supported when tested with Taiwanese employees, but also indicated the effect and importance of personal resources while examine employees’ well being. Future research should focus more on the cultural factors to clarify whether culture do make differences.