Organizational characteristics as moderators of the stress-strain relationship

The job demands-job decision latitude model (Karasek, 1979) states that high levels of work control will protect employees from the negative consequences of a stressful job. Approximately 2 decades of research testing the utility of Karasek's job demands-job decision latitude model has yet to establish clear empirical support for this proposition. One strategy for resolving the controversy concerning the stress-buffering role of work control on levels of employee adjustment is to investigate the extent to which other job characteristics influence the proposed Work Stress x Work Control interaction. Drawing on the wider psychological control literature, the present research was based on a distinction between behavioral and informational forms of work control, and examined the extent to which the stress-buffering effects of work control are contingent on two types of job-related information; that is, procedural information and contextual information. A series of four laboratory experiments and a subsequent field study were conducted to examine the interactive role of informational control in the stress-strain relationship.Study 1 was designed to examine the main and interactive effects among work stress, behavioral control, and procedural information on participants' responses to a simulated work activity. Low and high levels of work stress, behavioral control, and procedural information were manipulated in an experimental setting where participants completed a letter-sorting activity (N = 128). Indicators of adjustment included a residualized measure of positive mood, and participants' perceptions of both performance and satisfaction. As predicted, there was some support for the main effects of the focal variables on levels of adjustment. There was, however, no evidence to suggest that the stress-buffering effects of behavioral control were most marked for participants allocated to the high procedural information condition. Failure to find support for this hypothesis was attributed to insufficient task complexity in the lettersorting activity for procedural information to be of assistance when completing this type of experimental task.Study 2 manipulated low and high levels of work stress, behavioral control, and procedural information for 128 individuals performing an in-basket activity. An inbasket activity was considered to be a sufficiently complex task in which to observe the positive effects of work control on levels of adjustment. In addition to the self-report measures of adjustment, Study 2 obtained quantitative and qualitative indicators of task performance. There was some evidence to suggest that both forms of work control buffered the negative effects of work stress on levels of quantitative task performance. In addition, results revealed a significant three-way interaction among the focal variables in the prediction of participants' perceptions of performance and satisfaction. Contrary to expectations, it was found that procedural information buffered the negative effects of work stress on these dependent variables for participants who completed the in-basket activity under conditions of low behavioral control. This pattern of results may be interpreted to be in accord with sequential models of personal control that suggest that informational control may have a compensatory effect when the work environment is characterized by low opportunities for behavioral control.Study 3 was undertaken to examine the main and interactive effects of an alternative conceptualization of informational control; namely, contextual information concerning the wider organizational environment. Low and high levels of work stress, behavioral control, and contextual information were manipulated for participants performing an in-basket activity (N = 192). There was minimal support for the main and interactive effects of the focal variables on objective levels of task performance, and the self-report measures of mood, performance, and satisfaction. It was concluded that the short-term nature of the experimental task reduced the extent to which contextual information was useful to participants when they completed the task. The role of contextual information in the stress-strain relationship was re-examined in a real work setting (see Study 5).Study 4 was designed to test the extent to which the previously observed interactive relationship among work stress, behavioral control, and procedural information varied as a function of task complexity. Participants completed simple and complex versions of the in-basket activity under low and high conditions of the three focal variables (N = 256). Consistent with the pattern of results observed in Study 2, there was further support for the stress-buffering role of procedural information under conditions of low behavioral control when predicting participants' perceptions of performance and satisfaction. This three-way interaction was present only when the inbasket activity was characterized by high levels of task complexity, suggesting that the interactive relationship among these variables may depend on the type of tasks performed at work.Study 5 provided an opportunity to examine the extent to which the pattem of findings observed in the experimental studies could be replicated in a field setting. Perceptions of the work environment were measured at Time 1 for a sample of bank employees (N = 319), whereas the employee adjustment measures were obtained at Time 2 (n = 109). There was support for the main effects of work stress, behavioral control, and informational control on Time 2 levels of employee adjustment. In a similar vein to the experimental findings reported in this program of research, there was evidence to suggest that contextual information buffered the negative effects of role ambiguity on two indicators of Time 2 employee adjustment (i.e., commitment and accomplishment) only for those employees who perceived that they had limited control over the methods for completing their work tasks. Overall, the five studies provided corroborative evidence attesting to the importance of informational control as a buffer of work stress on levels of employee adjustment. In particular, there was a consistent pattern of results suggesting that informational control helps employees to cope with the demands of their job when there are limited opportunities to control the work environment behaviorally.