Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Relevanz von Merkmalen psychologischer Verträge und organisationaler Demokratie, Basisdimensionen psychischer Arbeitsanforderungen und Eigenverantwortung als Determinanten für Gesundheit, Arbeitsengagement und Innovation bei flexibilisierter Wissensarbeit. Dabei knüpft sie an der Frage an, welchen Erklärungswert indirekte Kontrollmechanismen auf organisationaler Ebene für die widersprüchliche Befundlage bei eigenverantwortlich handelnden Beschäftigten haben. Dazu wird das Konzept der Verhandlungsautonomie (Moldaschl, 2001) als organisationale Kontrolle von Beschäftigten über ihre Arbeits- und Beschäftigungsbedingungen vorgestellt, operationalisiert und in seiner strukturellen Invarianz bestätigt. Die empirischen Ergebnisse weisen ferner auf die inkrementelle Validität des Konstruktes hin, da Verhandlungsautonomie einen substanziellen zusätzlichen Beitrag zur Varianzaufklärung von Innovation und Gesundheit bei Wissensarbeit leistet, der über Personen- und Tätigkeitsmerkmale hinausgeht. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit steht die Überprüfung eines theoretisch begründeten Wirkungsmodells, in dem Eigenverantwortung als personale Ressource und Verhandlungsautonomie als organisationale Ressource wechselseitig aufeinander bezogene Determinanten für Stresserleben, Arbeitsengagement und innovatives Arbeitshandeln darstellen. Die Ergebnisse verweisen auf die Bedeutung von Eigenverantwortung und Verhandlungsautonomie als Innovations- und Gesundheitsressourcen, um Widersprüche zwischen leistungs- und gesundheitsbezogenen Zielen in Organisationen zu reduzieren, indem sie einer progressiven Entwicklung chronischer arbeitsbezogener Stresszustände im Innovationsgeschehen entgegen wirken. Damit eröffnen sich für Organisationen Handlungsperspektiven, durch Stärkung organisationaler Demokratie einerseits und Unterstützung eigenverantwortlichen Arbeitshandelns mit einer breiten Auslegung individueller Arbeitsrollen andererseits das Entstehen von Innovationen unter salutogenen Bedingungen zu befördern.

Significant associations between self-reported “whole units” of work and self-reported mental task requirements as well as personal outcomes are well known. Also of interest is, however, whether a significant association also exists between the underlying objective assignment of tasks, i.e. the division of labour, and self-reported mental requirements. Such an association would represent a concrete starting point for job design or redesign. We analyzed this question for retail sale jobs as an example of the numerous human service jobs, which usually consist of customer- and object-centred tasks. The study (N = 558 employees) evaluated the potential association between documented assignments of customer-centred and goods-centred activities and employees’ perceived mental requirements, skill utilisation, and learning on the job, as well as mental difficulties. A significant association of moderate effect size between the objective division of labour and self-reported mental job requirements was shown. Theoretical and practical consequences of this association are also discussed.

Workplace design practitioners and organizational managers are increasingly noticing all the various aspects in which the workplace affects organizations and their employees. The studies on the relationships between the workplace, organizations and their employees are more focused on psychology or facility management than the socio-spatial perspective. Workplace design, configuration and spatial features impact how well and how much a company can benefit from its human capital. Although the concept of the relation of workplace to an organization is not new, it is relatively unexamined. This thesis introduces a new set of spatial variables to workplace studies, following the concept of personal control. The discussed spatial variables effectively describe the features of workplace floor plan and the characteristics of a workstation. Furthermore, this dissertation develops a method that creates the link between workplace spatial setting and a sense of belonging, organizational outcomes – organizational commitment, work motivation, job satisfaction and work performance. Based on the detailed statistical analyses of a field survey that included 336 participants from 16 organizations, a model of spatial features influence sense of belonging and organizational outcomes was identified within this study. The research findings provide evidence for creating a workplace with a sense of belonging and better organizational outcomes through spatial design. This dissertation is comprised of six chapters. Chapter 1, an introduction, provides a general study background, discusses the problems to be solved in the study, and proposes an approach to deal with the target problems. Chapter 2 firstly reviews the current workplace studies related to spatial features. Secondly, it discusses the influence of workstation design on the human muscle system. Thirdly, it discusses the most relevant psychological issues at a workplace as stated by previous researches. Finally, the chapter reveals how a workplace affects the work of an organization. Chapter 3 specifies how workplace influences an employee’s sense of belonging and environmental control, and introduces the conceptual model. It also introduces the independent and dependent variables, generates research hypotheses. Chapter 4 describes the field survey design, procedures and the participants. It also covers the initial data analysis of the field survey: how the survey instrument, the questionnaire, was developed, commenting on all the aspects it includes – spatial experiences, work motivation, commitment, sense of belonging, job satisfaction and work performance. Chapter 5 is data analysis. This chapter discusses the research findings on workplace design features in relation to employees’ sense of belonging, satisfaction with ambient physical environment, and organizational outcomes – commitment, work motivation, job satisfaction and individual work performance. The final chapter summarizes the findings, comments on design implications of the research results, and draws conclusions. The dissertation ends in admitting the limitations of this research and discussing practical implications for future investigation.