A REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE JOB DIAGNOSTIC SURVEY

Development and validation of an instrument measuring core job characteristics

Purpose

Much of prior research focused on the dimensionality of the part of Job Diagnostic Survey that measures the core job characteristics, with mixed findings. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate an instrument assessing core job characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

Public school teachers (n=685) serving in elementary and secondary schools filled in the Core Job Characteristics Inventory (CJCI). CJCI comprises 29 items to assess job autonomy, task significance, task identification, skill variety and feedback from the job. The development of the CJCI undergone the following stages: development of an initial pool of items, examination of its content validity by ten experts and a pilot study.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors with satisfactory internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis showed mixed results. Application of exploratory structural equation modeling procedures revealed that a correlated five-factor model yielded an adequate fit to the data. Associations among the five work features were significant, positive and yielding moderate values. Correlations among the five-core job characteristics and two affective job responses (job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion) provided evidence of CJCI concurrent validity.

Practical implications

Human resources managers can use CJCI to measure core job characteristics or to evaluate interventions in the work places.

Originality/value

A new instrument was developed to measure core job characteristics, and to address previous shortcomings reported in the literature. The rigorous methodological procedure, which followed for the development of the CJCI combined with a cross-validation approach best guarantees its applicability.

Work characteristics, motivational orientations, psychological work ability and job mobility intentions of older workers

Drawing on job design theories and a conceptual framework of work-related goals and motivation in later adulthood, the aim of this paper is to explore how work-related and individual factors are separately and jointly related to psychological work ability and bridge employment intentions via late job mobility. The cross-sectional study is based on a sample of 171 older Spanish workers aged 45–65 and beyond. We differentiated between groups of older workers in mid career (45–55 years of age) and in their later careers (56 years and beyond). Our results confirm that task characteristics and, secondarily, knowledge characteristics are the most relevant factors in perceptions of psychological work ability among aged workers. Both age groups display a very marked personal mastery trait, which mediates the relationships between job characteristics and both psychological work ability and late job mobility intentions. The paper concludes with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for future research on the issues implied in the psychological adjustment of older workers in their mid and late careers.

Investigating knowledge workers’ productivity using work design theory

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the suitability of job and work design theory for investigating knowledge workers’ productivity. The review is a response to recommendation and adoption of the motivational human resource management approach by a number of knowledge management researchers. The authors show that the existing literature on this topic overlooks key criticisms of HRM job and work design theory itself. The authors suggest modifications.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proceeds by outlining knowledge management researchers’ arguments rejecting the application of traditional measurement approaches to investigating knowledge workers’ productivity. The review develops to examine the various arguments for adopting work design theory and considers the key contributions and critiques in this field. Drawing on the insights of key HRM work design critics, the paper concludes by offering suggestions for a model suitable for examining the drivers of knowledge work productivity in process.

Findings

The principle finding is that Morgeson and Humphrey’s (2006) Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ) stand as the most conceptually consistent and methodologically considered human resource management work design theory. However, this model must itself be modified to include a category of organizational contextual work characteristics. For application to the filed of knowledge management, WDQ must also be expanded to include knowledge sharing, role breadth self-efficacy and employee well-being as key work design mediators and outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

Greater consideration needs to be given to the distinction between knowledge sharing as a work design mediator and as a work design outcome. Morgeson and Humphrey themselves note that the “common method variance” problems arising in psychometric research have been reduced but not completely eliminated from their model.

Practical implications

Survey instruments based on the recommended model potentially provide a valuable means for understanding and enhancing productivity in a variety of knowledge intensive service industries. The pronounced benefit of this model is that it is applicable in cross-industry and cross-occupational contexts, unlike many existing knowledge worker productivity models. This is an advantage, given the centrality of the inter-connectivity of different types of activities and industries in knowledge work.

Social implications

Work design prioritizes employee motivation and support and links this to the quality of work and the well-being of clients. The benefits of well-designed knowledge work extend well beyond the generation of specific innovations and macroeconomic productivity improvements.

Originality/value

Job design and work design theory have been applied in the field of knowledge management. However, the applications have largely overlooked key critiques of the established models in the human resource management literature. The paper fills this gap. Its original suggestions for modifying Moregeson and Humphry’s (2006) WDQ reflect the authors’ in-depth analysis of the literature.

Spanish-Language Adaptation of Morgeson and Humphrey's Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ)

Since work organizations became the subject of scientific research, how to operationalize and measure dimensions of work design has been an issue, mainly due to concerns about internal consistency and factor structure. In response, Morgeson and Humphrey (2006) built the Work Design Questionnaire -WDQ-, an instrument that identifies and measures these dimensions in different work and organizational contexts. This paper presents the instruent's adaptation into Spanish using reliability and validity analysis and drawing on a sample of 1035 Spanish workers who hold various jobs in an array of occupational categories. The total instrument's internal consistency was Cronbach's alpha of .92 and the various scales' reliability ranged from .70 to .96, except for three dimensions. There was initially a difference in the comparative fit of the two versions' factor structures, but the model with 21 work characteristics (motivational -task and knowledge-, social, and work context) showed the highest goodness of fit of the various models tested, confirming previous results from the U.S. version as well as adaptations into other languages and contexts. CFA results indicated goodness of fit of factor configurations corresponding to each of the four major categories of work characteristics, with CFI and TLI around .90, as well as SRMR and RMSEA below .08. Thus it brings to the table a reliable, valid measure of work design with clear potential applications in research as well as professional practice, applications that could improve working conditions, boost productivity, and generate more personal and professional development opportunities for workers.

Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: Examining the Incremental Validity of Self-Interest and Prosocial Motives

Although research has established that self-interest and prosocial motives between benefactors and recipients increases organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), less is known about the extent to which these motives explain variance in OCBs. As such, the purpose of the current research is to examine self-interest and prosocial motives in relation to other antecedents examined in extant OCB literature. The results from this study demonstrate that both self-interest and prosocial motives explain additional variance in OCBs beyond employees’ affective reactions and work environment perceptions. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.

A Field Experiment Assessing the Impact of the Focused Diagnosis Intervention on Job Autonomy

A field experiment assessed the effects of a diagnostic intervention based on the focused diagnostic model (FD) on changes in job autonomy over time. The moderating effects of the FD on the relations of self-efficacy and participative management climate with job autonomy also were investigated. Atotal of 151 health care employeesworking in 34 primary health care clinics completed both the pretest and posttest surveys. As hypothesized, the results indicated a main effect of the FD intervention on job autonomy. The authors also found that the FD moderated the effects of self-efficacy and participative management on job autonomy for those in the experimental condition. As expected, for employees in the experimental condition with relatively low levels of self-efficacy and participative management, the FDcounteracted the negative impact of such lowlevels on job autonomy, whereas no such effect was observed in the control group.

Job satisfaction and job content in Dutch dental hygienists

OBJECTIVES

This study compares the scope of practice of Dutch dental hygienists (DHs) educated through a 2- or 3-year curriculum ('old-style DHs') with that of hygienists educated through a new extended 4-year curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree ('new-style DHs'), with the aim to investigate whether an extended scope of practice positively affects perceived skill variety, autonomy and job satisfaction.

METHODS

The questionnaires were obtained from old- and new-style DHs (n = 413, response 38%; n = 219, response 59%, respectively), in which respondents had recorded their dental tasks, perceived skill variety, autonomy and job satisfaction. T -tests were used to analyse differences between old- and new-style DHs, and regression analyses were performed to assess the relation between scope of practice and skill variety, autonomy and job satisfaction.

RESULTS

New-style DHs have a more extended scope of practice compared with old-style DHs. Despite their more complex jobs, which are theoretically related to higher job satisfaction, new-style DHs perceive lower autonomy and job satisfaction (P < 0.05). Skill variety is the strongest predictor for DHs' job satisfaction (β = 0.462), followed by autonomy (β = 0.202) and caries decisive tasks, the last affecting job satisfaction negatively (β = -0.149). Self-employment is the strongest significant predictor for autonomy (β = 0.272).

CONCLUSIONS

The core business of DHs remains the prevention and periodontology services. New-style DHs combine these tasks with extended tasks in the caries field, which can lead to comparatively less job satisfaction, because of a lower experienced autonomy in performing these extended tasks.

Dienstleistungsqualität in der Universitätsverwaltung: Antezedenzien und Konsequenzen

Im Rahmen eines Organisationsentwicklungsprojekts in einer Universitätsverwaltung wurden Verwaltungsmitarbeiter und ihre hausinternen Kunden (wissenschaftliche und nichtwissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter, Studierende; insgesamt N = 1.762) zum Thema Dienstleistungsqualität befragt. Als Antezedenzien der Dienstleistungsqualität wurden subjektiv wahrgenommene Arbeits- und Aufgabenmerkmale sowie die Zufriedenheit und Motivation der Verwaltungsmitarbeiter erfasst. Als Konsequenzen wurden das affektive Commitment der Kunden gegenüber der Universität sowie freiwilliges Engagement der Kunden für die Universität (OCB) berücksichtigt. Mittels Regressions- und Strukturgleichungsanalysen wurde gezeigt, dass Zufriedenheit und Motivation der Verwaltungsmitarbeiter signifikant durch wahrgenommene Aufgabenmerkmale vorhergesagt werden können (Bedeutsamkeit, Geschlossenheit, Rückmeldung durch die Arbeit sowie durch andere). Es ergaben sich zudem positive Zusammenhänge zwischen Zufriedenheit und Motivation der Verwaltungsmitarbeiter einerseits und der durch die Kunden eingeschätzten Dienstleistungsqualität andererseits. Die eingeschätzte Dienstleistungsqualität wiederum erwies sich als signifikanter Prädiktor des affektiven Commitments und des OCB der Kunden.

The association between job strain and emotional exhaustion in a cohort of 1,028 Finnish teachers

BACKGROUND

Teachers' work overload has been the subject of intense research, and the results of these studies show that a substantial proportion of teachers perceive their job as very stressful.

AIMS

To investigate how different formulations of high demands and low decision latitude was related to teachers' burnout, and to estimate the possible interaction between these factors.

SAMPLE

The sample consisted of 1,028 school teachers.

METHOD

Multivariate covariant analyses (MANCOVA) was used to evaluate the relationship between a high-strain job defined by 3 different cut-off points and burnout. Logistical regression analysis was used to estimate the separate and joint effects of demand and decision authority on emotional exhaustion. Interaction between high demands and low decision authority was analysed using relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI). An attributable proportion (AP) was calculated in order to estimate the proportion of emotionally exhausted teachers among those exposed to both risk factors that was attributable to their synergistic interaction. The group of teachers who perceived their job as a low-strain job was used as the reference group in the analysis.

RESULTS

The effect of job strain on burnout was proved to be consistent and robust across alternative formulations. The main effect of high demands exceeded that of low decision authority in relation to emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the 2 factors acted synergistically to increase the risk of burnout.

CONCLUSIONS

In the case of burnout, teachers who perceived their job as highly demanding and low in control, 69% of the effect could be attributed to the synergism of these 2 factors.

Der Work Design Questionnaire

Der Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ, Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006 ) ist ein Fragebogen zur Analyse von Arbeitstätigkeiten. Er umfasst Aufgaben-, Wissens-, soziale und kontextuelle Arbeitsplatzmerkmale (insgesamt 21 Skalen). In diesem Beitrag wird eine deutsche Übersetzung des WDQ vorgestellt. Wir berichten Ergebnisse aus vier Studien, in denen die deutsche Version erstmals eingesetzt und überprüft wurde. In Studie 1 zeigten sich gute bis sehr gute interne Konsistenzen für die Skalen. Im Hinblick auf die Validität der Skalen konnten einige postulierte Zusammenhänge der über den WDQ erfassten Arbeitsplatzmerkmale mit Zufriedenheit, Arbeitsmotivation, Bedeutsamkeit, Verantwortlichkeit und dem Wissen um die Resultate nachgewiesen werden. Das differenzierte Muster der Zusammenhänge spricht für die getrennte Erfassung aller 21 Konstrukte. In Studie 2 konnten die Ergebnisse zu Reliabilität und Kriteriumsvalidität aus der ersten Studie repliziert werden. Darüber hinaus konnte die postulierte Faktorstruktur durch konfirmatorische Faktorenanalysen bestätigt werden. Es zeigten sich theoretisch plausible Unterschiede hinsichtlich Berufsgruppe, Selbstständigkeit und Führungsverantwortung. In Studie 3 konnte eine ausreichende zeitliche Stabilität der WDQ-Skalen nachgewiesen werden. In Studie 4 gaben wir den WDQ einer Stichprobe von Pflegekräften vor. Die Angaben sind deutlich homogener als in heterogenen Stichproben, was eine Erfassung von objektiv gegebenen Arbeitsmerkmalen durch den WDQ andeutet. Insgesamt sprechen die Ergebnisse der vier Studien für die Reliabilität und Validität des deutschen WDQ.

Satisfaction and burnout among staff of crisis resolution, assertive outreach and community mental health teams. A multicentre cross sectional survey

BACKGROUND

The NHS Plan required extensive changes in the configuration of mental health services in the UK, including introduction of crisis resolution teams, CRTs. Little is known about the effects of these changes on mental health staff and their recruitment and retention.

AIMS

To assess levels of burnout and sources of satisfaction and stress in CRT staff and compare them with assertive outreach team (AOT) and community mental health team (CMHT) staff.

METHOD

Cross sectional survey using questionnaires, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Minnesota Satisfaction Scale and global job satisfaction item from the Job Diagnostic Survey. All staff in 11 CRTs in 7 London boroughs were included.

RESULTS

One hundred and sixty-nine questionnaires were received (response rate 78%). CRT staff were moderately satisfied with their jobs and scores for the three components of burnout were low or average. Their sense of personal accomplishment was greater than in the other types of team.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that CRTs may be sustainable from a workforce morale perspective, but longer term effects will need to be assessed.

Organization, work and work reactions: a study of the relationship between organizational aspects of nursing and nurses' work characteristics and work reactions

This article describes a quantitative, correlational study of the relationship between organizational aspects (such as the predictability of the care), work characteristics (autonomy and workload) and work reactions (work satisfaction and health complaints) in nursing work. The variables have been measured by questionnaires. Subjects were 155 nurses from nine units in two general hospitals in the Netherlands. Several organizational aspects seem to be correlated with work characteristics and work reactions. Organizational aspects particularly influence work characteristics and play, therefore, a mediating role in the relationship between organizational aspects and work reactions. Job satisfaction is not only correlated with the autonomy, but also with workload. Health complaints appeared to be mainly correlated with the workload. It is concluded that for an improvement of job satisfaction and reduction of health complaints, it is not only necessary to improve autonomy and reduce workload, but also to pay attention to organizational aspects because these may influence the work characteristics.

A comparative study of work characteristics and reactions between general and mental health nurses: a multi-sample analysis

AIM OF THE STUDY

The first aim of this study was to examine differences in work characteristics (autonomy, social support and workload) and work reactions (emotional exhaustion and job involvement) between general and mental health nurses. The second aim was to validate whether a specific pattern of relationships between work characteristics and reactions was the same for mental health and general nurses.

BACKGROUND

Nurses are generally being considered as an above risk group regarding work stress. However, health care is a diverse sector and literature suggests important differences regarding the work of different categories of nursing, such as general and mental health nurses. In addition, little empirical evidence exists about these differences. In order to improve their work situation, more insight is needed regarding differences and similarities in the work of general and mental health nurses. The demand-control-support (DCS) model was used as a research framework. We hypothesized that autonomy, job involvement, and emotional exhaustion are higher in mental health nursing, whereas social support is expected to be lower. Next, in line with the propositions of this model and several recent studies, we hypothesized that emotional exhaustion is primarily predicted by workload and social support, whereas job involvement is primarily predicted by autonomy. In addition, we investigated whether this pattern of relationships was similar in both groups.

DESIGN/METHODS

Questionnaires were distributed to nurses working in a general and a psychiatric hospital in the Netherlands. We used MANOVA and MSA (by means of LISREL) to analyse the data.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Regarding the differences in work characteristics and work reactions between mental health and general nurses, our hypotheses were confirmed, except for social support and job involvement. Autonomy and emotional exhaustion were higher among mental health nurses, whereas their job involvement proved to be significantly lower. Emotional exhaustion was primarily predicted by workload and lack of social support. Contrary to our expectations, the relationship between autonomy and job involvement was not significant in both samples. Finally, we found that the proposed pattern of relationships appeared to be invariant across the two samples.

Sources of satisfaction in hospital nursing practice. A guide to effective job design

OBJECTIVE

As the healthcare system restructures, changes are being made that appear to influence nurses' jobs and satisfaction, yet little is known about effects on job characteristics and related outcomes. The authors present findings from a research project designed to identify links between specific aspects of hospital staff nurse (SN) practice and perceived job characteristics and psychological states, thought to have motivational consequences.

BACKGROUND

The Job Characteristics Model (JCM) is the dominant paradigm in contemporary job design theory and research. Although generally well-supported, the JCM has limitations that constrain its usefulness: first, the Job Diagnostic Survey used to assess perceived characteristics does not indicate the specific aspects of activities that lead to these perceptions, and second, the JCM, based primarily on manufacturing research, does not include interpersonal job characteristics that seem important in human service jobs.

METHODS

Two studies were conducted using a similar methodology. Focus groups of SNs were held to identify links between specific activities and characteristics and sources of satisfaction in SNs' job content. The Staff Nurse Job Characteristics Index (SNJCI) was developed to assess the presence of certain elements and activities in a nurse's job. An initial sample of 63 and a second sample of 146 SNs from Medical/Surgical and Coronary Care units completed the SNJCI, the JDS, and a demographic form through a mail survey.

RESULTS

Internal consistency reliabilities (Cronbach's alpha) for eight of the nine SNJCI scales were acceptable. Correlation analysis indicates that job characteristics are meaningfully related to psychological states and job satisfaction. Findings support the hypothesis that specific aspects of SNs' jobs are reliably related to characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS

Aspects of SNs' jobs important to their satisfaction include continuity in nurse-patient relationships, authority to initiate independent nursing actions, individual accountability for clinical outcomes, and regular performance feedback from managers.