Work characteristics and employee outcomes in local government

Int. J. of Human Resource Management 17:10 October 2006 1804– 1818

Work characteristics and employee outcomes in local government

Andrew J. Noblet, John McWilliams, Stephen T.T. Teo and John J. Rodwell Abstract The overall objective of this study was to examine the work characteristics that make significant contributions to extra-role performance (as measured by the helping dimension of citizenship behaviour) and employee wellbeing (measured by job satisfaction and psychological health) in a local government. The work characteristics examined were based on the demand-control-support (DCS) model, augmented by organization-specific characteristics. The results indicate that characteristics described in the core DCS are just as relevant to extra-role performance as they are to more traditional indicators of job stress. Although the more situation-specific conditions were not predictive of citizenship behaviour, they made unique contributions to job satisfaction. Keywords Work characteristics; organizational citizenship behaviours; local government reform; Australia.

Introduction Changes within the Australian local government sector are occurring as part of the larger agenda of public sector reform (Aulich, 1999; Dollery and Marshall, 1997). Public sector agencies and local government have adopted private sector managerial practices to bring about a more effective management of these organizations (Boyne et al., 1999; Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). Recent studies have even found that public and private sector organizations have many similarities in terms of their HRM practices (Budhwar and Boyne, 2004). In particular, Aulich (1999) notes that reforms within local government tend to focus on two primary agendas: first, the improved management of resources and, second, redefinition of roles and responsibilities of the various actors within the sector. For example, public sector reforms that separate purchase and provider functions, such as compulsory competitive tendering, have created an entrepreneurial spirit among managers (Box, 1999). The degree and nature of change sweeping throughout the public sector requires the adoption of a new performance-oriented culture and new skills and competencies in relation to corporate managerial practices. The push towards the adoption of this New Public Management (NPM), places additional demands on public Andrew J. Noblet, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia (tel: þ61 3 9251 7271; fax: þ 61 3 9244 6017; e-mail: [email protected]); John McWilliams, Deakin University, 336 Glenferrie Road, Malvern, VIC 3144, Australia (tel: þ61 3 9244 5539; fax: þ61 3 9244 5544; e-mail: [email protected]); Stephen T.T. Teo, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123 Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia (tel: þ 61 2 9514 3678; fax: þ 61 29514 3602; e-mail: [email protected]); John J. Rodwell, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia (tel: þ 61 2 9850 7885; fax: þ 61 2 9850 9019; e-mail: [email protected]). The International Journal of Human Resource Management ISSN 0958-5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online q 2006 Taylor & Francis http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/09585190600965308

Noblet et al.: Work characteristics and employee outcomes in local government

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service employees, which leads to an increase in the stresses they are under (Korunga et al., 2003). However, more research is investigating the increasingly heavy demands that public sector employees are working under, and the impacts of new roles, activities and demands, especially in terms of whether they are causing public sector employees strain (Korunga et al., 2003). The research and business community have long been interested in the variables that increase the likelihood of employees taking greater initiative and performing tasks that go beyond formally defined roles and job descriptions (Katz and Kahn, 1978). Extra-role behaviours that make positive contributions to the organization, but are not formally required or rewarded, are referred to as organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs). These behaviours both facilitate and enhance the performance of in-role tasks (Diefendorff et al., 2002) and are highly valued by all levels of the organization (Organ, 1988; van Dyne and LePine, 1998). Although research on the antecedents of OCB is well advanced, there has been a tendency to overlook the role of specific working conditions and little is known about the impact that adverse conditions such as poor communication, conflicting demands between managers and customers and other negative workplace characteristics can have on OCB (Turnipseed and Murkison, 2000). In general, OCB has not been the focus of public sector reform and has not been the emphasis of much empirical research. For example, while Coyle-Shapiro (2002) conducted her research in a public sector context, her research emphasis was not on the evaluation of the consequences of NPM on work and OCB. Instead, Shapiro examined the psychological contract and OCB based on a sample of public sector employees. Vigoda and Golembiewski (2001) made an initial attempt at developing a multidimensional model of OCB in order to link the OCB literature with NPM. However, this link has not been effectively established in the public sector literature and the current paper will make a contribution by testing a key model of employee outcomes, the Demand-Control-Support model, with OCB in a public sector context that has undergone NPM reform. This agenda has implications for the effective management of local government and the reform agenda, especially in terms of employee outcomes in the context of NPM, such as wellbeing. Therefore, the current study will provide empirical evidence of the nature of the relationships between key work design variables and the key issues of within public sector entities if public management reform is to be successfully maintained. Specifically, we will investigate the relationship between working conditions and the employee outcomes of wellbeing and OCB to identify those particular conditions that may enhance or ameliorate the impact of managerial interventions in the context of public sector reform. Employee performance in local government With the introduction of NPM and an increasing emphasis on economy, effectiveness and efficiency, public sector managers face a number of constraints such as scarce financial resources, problematic labour relations and weighty and limiting government regulations that can, at times, result in a highly stressful working environment (Schafer and Toy, 1999). Evidence is beginning to show that NPM reforms can result in work intensification and increased job demands for public sector employees (Korunga et al., 2003). Indeed, work intensity has been found to be the most significant factor in determining job satisfaction in a survey of social workers in the USA (Butler, 1990). Long-term exposure to stressors can lead to the incidence of physical symptoms experienced by public sector employees – a result that has been found in a study of 34

1806 The International Journal of Human Resource Management work settings in the USA, Canada and other international sites (Golembiewski et al., 1998). It is generally recognized that employee attitudes (e.g. job satisfaction) are only moderate predictors of in-role performance – the tasks and responsibilities performed as part of an employee’s job description (Diefendorff et al., 2002). Factors such as equipment, technology, the quality of materials, and government regulations all impact on the performance of private sector employees and many of these are beyond the direct influence of the individual worker. A key driver of NPM, work intensification, has been found to be associated with decreasing job satisfaction and increasing job strain (Noblet et al., 2005). More specifically, work intensity has been connected to stress through the same mechanisms that have been shown to impact on job satisfaction (Butler, 1990). The discretionary activities undertaken by employees are much more dependent on worker beliefs and attitudes and, consequently, extra-role activities are regarded as a better measure of employee performance (Diefendorff et al., 2002). These discretionary tasks are volunteered by the employee and include actions such as helping to orient new employees, assisting colleagues during busy periods and initiating new procedures and systems. Extra-role actions that have positive consequences for the organization but are not required or formally rewarded are collectively referred to as organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) (van Dyne et al., 2000). Although researchers have debated the exact definition of OCB, the themes common to most conceptualizations are altruism, conscientiousness, innovation, initiative and other pro-social behaviours (Turnipseed and Murkison, 2000). Citizenship behaviours have been described as the ‘social lubricant’ that enables employees to perform their core functions (Podsakoff and MacKenzie, 1997). Behaviours performed proactively are difficult to separate from those that have been prescribed by superiors (Morrison, 1994), yet empirical research suggests that workers and managers frequently make clear distinctions between in-role and extra-role behaviours (van Dyne and LePine, 1998). This distinction does not suggest that the two facets of performance are unrelated, in fact, much of the OCB literature has also highlighted the mutually dependent relationship between these two general elements of performance. The positive and proactive behaviours performed by employees have also been strongly endorsed for their ability to provide the organization with much needed innovation and adaptability. Organizations are operating in more dynamic economic and socio-cultural environments than in the past and, with subsequent reductions in stability and predictability, senior staff rely heavily on the initiative of employees to meet future challenges (van Dyne and LePine, 1998; van Dyne et al., 2000). As a result, the defining features of OCB, namely pro-active cooperation and employee initiative, are highly valued for their contributions to improved organizational performance and competitive advantage. OCB and the Demand-Control-Support model The OCB literature indicates that both dispositional (e.g. personality) and attitudinal variables (e.g. job commitment) contribute to employees’ citizenship behaviours (e.g. Organ and Konofsky, 1989; Watson and Clark, 1984). However the relationship between job conditions and OCB is under-represented in the literature and research examining the role of work characteristics is only just emerging (Turnipseed and Murkison, 2000). One area that is conceptually and empirically underdeveloped is the influence of negative work-based stimuli, such as poor communication systems, autocratic leadership styles, inadequate resources and other stressful conditions.


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The influence of organizational stimuli has key implications for organizations, as senior staff are much more capable of modifying organizational environments than they are dispositional variables (Turnipseed and Murkison, 2000). The Demand-Control-Support (DCS) model is one of the most widely used theoretical models underpinning research on the relationship between working conditions and employee outcomes (Fox et al., 1993). This model proposes that the risk of psychological and physical illness (referred to as strain) increases when the demands of a situation exceed the levels of job control and social support available to the individual (Karasek et al., 1981). High strain jobs, therefore, represent those situations where the demands are not matched by adequate levels of decision-making authority and/or support from supervisors and colleagues. Although the DCS model has provided key insights into the work–stress relationship, it has been criticized for its narrow focus on a few generic characteristics at the expense of more situation-specific variables (Sparks and Cooper, 1999). This criticism is supported by recent evidence that the DCS model, and parts thereof, capture a significantly higher proportion of strain when augmented by situational stressors (Beehr et al., 2000). Despite the considerable body of research investigating the outcomes associated with the DCS, the authors of the current paper have been unable to locate studies that have assessed the capacity of this model to predict citizenship behaviours. Indirect evidence of a DCS –OCB connection comes from research linking individual components of the model to attitudinal antecedents of OCB, namely job satisfaction and job commitment (Noblet et al., 2003). In addition, job autonomy and supervisor support, individual components of the DCS, have been correlated with OCB (Turnipseed and Murkison, 2000). However, previous research has not assessed the contribution made by all of demand, control and support on OCB. Furthermore, augmenting generic models of job stress with more situation-specific variables is only a recent approach (Sparks and Cooper, 1999; Noblet et al., 2003) and very few studies have undertaken a thorough assessment of the situation-specific conditions that may be impacting on OCB. Research that supports a close association between the augmented DCS and OCB could have important implications for managerial practice. The primary focus of the current study is to identify the relationship between the conditions and situations represented in the augmented DCS and employee wellbeing and citizenship behaviours. However, OCB consists of a number of dimensions and the relevance of each dimension varies according to the particular setting under investigation (van Dyne and LePine, 1998). One dimension that appears to capture the more general aspects of citizenship behaviour, and is, therefore, more relevant to a range of working environments is altruism (Organ, 1988). This dimension parallels van Dyne and LePine’s (1998) definition of helping and includes actions such as assisting colleagues to learn about their work, volunteering to attend meetings that facilitate the smooth functioning of the work unit and helping others to fulfil their work responsibilities. In view of the multiple-setting relevance of extra-role cooperative behaviour, the present study will focus on the helping dimension of OCB. The other outcome variables investigated in this study are job satisfaction and psychological health. Psychological health is a context-free measure of employee wellbeing (Warr, 1996) and is often used in job stress research (Xie, 1996). Similarly, job satisfaction is one of the most commonly researched aspects of job-related wellbeing (Warr, 1996) and has frequently been associated with a range of work conditions including job demands (Xie, 1996), and job discretion (Landsbergis et al., 1992). If the variables contained in the DCS model help explain why employees engage in OCB, then management can focus on these variables as a means of producing higher

1808 The International Journal of Human Resource Management levels of citizenship behaviours, while maintaining employee wellbeing. Subsequently, this study will assess the extent to which the DCS and organization-specific variables can predict employee wellbeing and OCB. Method Research context Australian local government provides the third tier of government in Australia’s federal system (McNeill, 1997). Expenditure of local government in the financial year of 1999– 2000 was over AUD13 billion and the sector employed close to 139,400 employees in 730 local government bodies throughout Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, 2000). As rates and government grants contribute about 60 and 23 per cent respectively to a council’s revenues (McNeill, 1997), this translates into considerable pressure for local governments to conform to the demands of customers and government. Although the Australian local government sector has been moving through public sector reform, not all states have progressed at the same pace (Aulich, 1999). Local governments in Victoria tend to have a greater degree of autonomy compared with other states (van Gramberg and Teicher, 2000). Smaller councils are being amalgamated for economies of scale and services are being contracted out (Dollery and Marshall, 1997). This, together with the transfer of local government infrastructure assets and microeconomic reform, has led to a decline in the number of employees in the sector (Commonwealth of Australia, 2000). It is within this context of local government reform that we collected our data in 2004 as a means of understanding the relationship between employee performance and work conditions. Sample The participants in this study were staff from a medium-sized public sector organization located in a large Australian city. The organization employed 306 employees and all were invited to take part in the present study. A wide range of occupational groups were represented in the sample including: engineers, finance personnel, human resource management practitioners, social workers, childcare workers, community health nurses, recreation workers, parking inspectors, maintenance staff, waste collectors, librarians, management and other administrative staff. A copy of the questionnaire, along with a letter from the CEO encouraging employees to participate in the survey, was sent to employees’ home addresses. Staff were asked to complete the questionnaire and return it in a reply-paid envelope. Employees received reminder e-mails five and ten business days after the initial distribution. A total of 245 completed questionnaires were received from staff members (80 per cent response rate). There were over twice as many female participants (67 per cent) as there were males (33 per cent). Over 82 per cent of respondents were aged over 31 years and the majority (66 per cent) had been employed with the organization for three or more years. Almost half (49 per cent) of the respondents were permanent employees, 35 per cent were part-time and the remaining 15 per cent were casuals. Measures The questionnaire used in this study consisted of self-report scales that were designed to measure the following dependent and independent variables. Respondents were also requested to provide demographic information including gender, age and length of time employed with the organization.


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. Organizational citizenship behaviours – OCB were assessed using Van Dyne and LePine’s (1998) seven-item helping scale. This scale measures proactive, affliative behaviours that are performed voluntarily and encourage interpersonal harmony (e.g. orienting new employees, helping others to learn about specific work tasks). The helping scale has been developed and validated with data from individuals working in a wide variety of organizational settings (van Dyne et al., 2000). Respondents completed a seven-point scale ranging from ‘never’ (scored as one) to ‘always’ (scored as seven). Higher scores indicated higher levels of OCB. The scale had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91. . Job satisfaction – Job satisfaction was measured using a 15-item scale developed by Warr et al. (1979). This scale was designed to measure the satisfaction – dissatisfaction felt by participants in relation to various aspects of work (e.g. physical conditions, management, salary and job security). Participants responded on a seven-point scale ranging from ‘very satisfied’ to ‘very dissatisfied’ (i.e. the higher the score, the higher the dissatisfaction). The scale had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.92. . Psychological health – The GHQ-12 (Goldberg and Williams, 1988) was used to measure self-perceived psychological health. The GHQ-12 has been designed to be a valid indicator of current psychological health (Banks et al., 1980). Participants were asked to complete a four-point scale ranging from ‘not at all’ (scored as zero) to ‘much more than usual’ (scored as three). The scoring was such that higher scores indicate higher levels of perceived health. The scale had a Cronbach of 0.81. . Control – Participant perceptions of the amount of control they experienced at work were measured using the nine-item decision latitude scale developed by Karasek (1985). Participants were asked to respond on a five-point scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ (i.e. the higher the score, the higher the level of agreement). The scale had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.82. . Job demand – The Quantitative Workload scale (Caplan et al., 1980) was used to measure job demands. This is an 11-item scale that encompassed both psychological and physical job demands. Participants were asked to respond on a five-point scale ranging from ‘rarely’ to ‘very often’. The scale had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.90. . Social support – Support from colleagues and supervisors was measured using the work component of Etzion’s (1984) social support scale. This component consisted of nine items and participants were asked to indicate the extent that various support features are present in their work lives. Participants recorded their responses on a fivepoint scale ranging from ‘always present’ to ‘never present’. The Cronbach’s alpha for the social support from work scale was 0.89. . Organization-specific stressors – Participants were asked to respond to a 33-item organization-specific stressors scale that required them to indicate the extent that each of the factors listed was a source of stress in their job (refer to Table 1 for the organization-specific stressors included in this scale). A five-point scale ranging from ‘not at all’ to ‘major source of stress’ was used. The organization-specific stressors scale was based on the results of a qualitative study involving a cross-section of staff members. In this study, two semi-structured focus groups were undertaken to identify the sources of stress experienced by participants. Nineteen staff, who represented a cross-section of the organization, took part in these focus groups (nine in the first group and ten in the second). The results revealed 33 separate stressors that were experienced by participants. Member validation checks and comparisons with the occupational stress literature (e.g. Cox and Cox, 1993) indicated that the overall analysis had satisfactory levels of internal and external validity.

1810 The International Journal of Human Resource Management Results Consistent with procedures undertaken by Noblet et al. (2001), the organization-specific stressors used in the statistical analyses were selected by taking those stressors that were rated by at least one-third of respondents as being a moderate, large or major source of stress (i.e. a score of three, four or five on the five-point scale). There were six stressors that were rated as moderate-major sources of stress by at least 33 per cent of participants and there was a clear gap between the top six organization-specific stressors and the next most common source of stress (see Table 1 for a full list of the organization-specific stressors and the percentage of respondents who rated each stressor a moderate to major source of stress). Prior to undertaking the analysis, the data were screened and assumptions tested using the checklist developed by Tabachnick and Fidell (1996). The evaluation of assumptions, particularly when investigating collinearity and multicollinearity, indicated that the data Table 1 Organization-specific stressors and percentage of respondents who rated each stressor a moderate, large or major source of stress Item no. 6 20 4 21 19 17 13 18 29 2 3 8 15 24 25 5 22 1 11 23 9 16 27 10 28 7 14 30 33 26 32 12 31

Sources of stress

%

Insufficient staff to complete work on time and to standard expected Frequent interruptions Lack of resources to accomplish tasks Other staff not pulling their weight Not having enough time to do job as well as you would like Busy, fast-paced workload Long delays in addressing problems Insufficient time to take meal breaks Difficulty balancing work and non-work commitments Long working hours Lack of recognition for good work Lack of information on why certain decisions are made Lack of advice and guidance from more senior staff The prospect of doing the same job for the next 5– 10 years Dealing with abusive or difficult customers Not having enough say in what happens in your organization Pay not as good as other people doing similar work Lack of feedback on how you’re performing Unclear expectations Lack of opportunity to undertake more challenging and stimulating tasks Lack of contact with workers from other departments or sites Unrealistic performance targets Working in noisy areas Not knowing what’s happening in other work areas Inadequate consultation re-organizational or technological change Equipment/system breakdowns or faults Not receiving enough training and development Unfair treatment from more senior staff Disagreements/conflict with other employees Constant contact with customers Disagreements/conflict with management Having your work closely monitored Supervisor constantly finding fault in your work

41 37 36 34 33 33 29 29 29 28 27 27 25 25 25 24 24 23 22 21 19 19 19 18 18 17 17 15 15 14 12 9 5


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were robust to the assumptions of normality, linearity and homoscedasticity of residuals inherent to the multiple regression analyses (Tabachnick and Fiddell, 1996). The missing data were randomly dispersed among variables and these data were treated using listwise deletion (Roth, 1994). All statistical analyses were undertaken using SPSS 12.0.1 for Windows. The descriptive statistics and correlations are shown in Table 2. The correlations were conducted to highlight the pattern of relationships between the target variables (i.e. OCB, job satisfaction and psychological wellbeing), the generic conditions represented in the DCS model (i.e. job demand, job control and work-based support), and organizationspecific stressors. It was important that the organization-specific stressors were relevant to as many of the respondents as possible and hence only the most commonly identified stressors were included in the analyses. A key feature of Table 2 is the large number of significant correlations between the target measures and the predictor variables. Multiple regression was used to clarify the predictive capacity of the DCS and the organization-specific stressors. A two-step hierarchical regression was initially performed1 for each of the target variables: OCB, job satisfaction and psychological health. The DCS variables (job demand, job control, and work and non-work support) were entered into the first step so as to identify each of those variable’s unique contribution to the dependent variables. Step two in the regression consisted of the organization-specific stressors. The DCS interactive terms, demand x control and demand x control x support were also tested in the regression analyses. Consistent with numerous other studies investigating Karasek’s original and expanded models, these terms failed to reach statistical significance and made negligible contributions to the amount of variance in psychological health or job satisfaction (as measured by the changes in R2). The interaction terms were subsequently omitted from the regression equations, leaving the main effects for DCS and organization-specific stressors in the final analyses. The overall equation shown in Table 3 significantly explains the variance in OCB, R 2adj ¼ 0.249, F (9, 178) ¼ 7.904, p , 0.001. The overall equation was also significant for the outcome measures of job satisfaction, R2adj ¼ 0.687, F (9, 174) ¼ 45.570, p , 0.001, and psychological health, R2adj ¼ 0.202, F (9, 162) ¼ 6.375, p , 0.001. The detailed results of the multiple regression analyses in Table 3 indicate that job discretion and support from work sources was the only independent variable that was linked to all three outcome measures. None of the organization-specific stressors were predictive of more than one outcome measure and, overall, the more situation-specific variables accounted for relatively small portions of the explained variance.

Discussion The overall objective of this study was to identify the work characteristics that were closely associated with organizational citizenship behaviours and employee wellbeing (as measured by job satisfaction and psychological health). An augmented DCS model was used to guide the research and the results indicate that characteristics described in the core DCS model captured significant portions of explained variance in all three outcome measures. These results suggest that the DCS dimensions are just as relevant to extra-role performance as they are to more traditional indicators of job stress. Furthermore, the strong links between components of the DCS and measures of wellbeing and extra-role performance suggest that this model offers valuable opportunities for enhancing both the health and performance of employees.

Mean 1. OCB 2. Job satisfaction 3. Psychological health 4. Job demand 5. Job control 6. Support – work 7. Support – non-work 8. Insufficient staff 9. Frequent interruptions 10. Lack of resources 11. Staff not pulling weight 12. Not enough time 13. Busy, fast paced work

SD

31.67 8.31 80.71 14.65 23.57

1 – 0.15*

5.59 20.03

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

11

12

– 0.42**

–

37.31 6.76 32.77 5.56 40.81 11.21

0.33*** 20.06 20.10 – 0.41*** 0.43*** 0.21*** 0.29** 0.16** 0.76*** 0.38*** 20.11

– 0.28***

–

44.82 10.20

0.14*

0.01

0.04

0.28***

0.23***

0.28***

–

2.40

1.36

0.19**

20.43*** 20.26***

0.48***

0.09

20.40*** 20.11

–

2.31

1.19

0.13

20.36*** 20.27***

0.46***

0.03

20.30*** 20.18**

0.53*** –

2.24

1.26

0.15**

0.22***

0.31***

2.20

1.34

0.06

20.35*** 20.08

0.13

2.23

1.24

0.17**

20.27*** 20.17**

0.55***

2.14

1.09

0.19**

20.25*** 20.17**

0.54***

Notes: * p , .05; ** p , .01; *** p , .001.

10

0.45***

0.16**

20.14**

0.13*

20.33*** 20.02

0.73*** –

20.38*** 20.03

0.35*** 0.44*** 0.37*** –

0.12

20.27*** 20.18**

0.67*** 0.65*** 0.51*** 0.28*** –

0.08

20.21*** 20.13

0.56*** 0.63*** 0.45*** 0.21*** 0.73***

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Table 2 Descriptive statistics and correlations among study variables

OCB Independent variable Step 1 Job demand Job control Support (work) Step 2 Insufficient staff Frequent interruptions Lack of resources Staff not pulling weight Not enough time Busy, fast paced work

Job satisfaction

B

SE B

b

0.19 0.51 0.15

0.11 0.10 0.05

0.18 0.35*** 0.20**

0.61 20.01

0.66 0.62

20.19 0.83 20.92 1.18

Notes: * p , .05; ** p , .01; *** p , .001.

DR

2

B

SE B

b

DR 2

0.02 0.15 0.12

0.07 0.07 0.04

0.02 0.16* 0.24**

0.14***

2 0.05 20.13*

2 0.27 2 1.65

0.46 0.44

20.06 20.35***

0.70 0.52

2 0.24*** 0.01

2 0.27 0.59

0.41 0.32

20.06 0.13

0.83 0.84

0.11 2 0.03

0.47 2 0.07

0.51 0.52

0.10 20.01

B

SE B

b

0.05 0.74 0.73

0.15 0.11 0.06

0.02 0.30*** 0.56***

0.10 2 0.01

20.54 21.59

0.76 0.74

0.60 0.46

2 0.03 0.13

22.75 0.03

0.73 0.75

2 0.14 0.15

21.28 20.45

0.24***

0.01

Psychological health

DR

2

0.63***

0.07*** 2 0.07

0.06**


Table 3 Summary of hierarchical regression analyses for variables predicting OCB, job satisfaction and psychological health

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1814 The International Journal of Human Resource Management The role of the DCS variables Although the DCS interaction variables were not supported in the regression results, job control and social support made unique and significant contributions to job satisfaction, OCB and, to a lesser extent, psychological wellbeing. In the case of job control, the predictive capacity of this variable across the wellbeing and performance variables parallels a number of experimental and longitudinal studies where control was found to be an important causal determinant of job strain (e.g. Bosma et al., 1997; Jackson, 1983). The importance of job control also echoes the seminal ideas of Trist and Bamforth (1951) on socio-technical systems in job redesign, in which effectiveness is achieved by sacrificing some technical efficiency in favour of social efficiency, as well as the more recent work on job redesign, reported by Karasek (2004a), whereby emphasis is moved further to redesigning work around coordinated patterns of the skills of workers thus providing a work setting more conducive to psychological health or employee wellbeing. Overall, the findings from this and previous research support the view that having a say in what happens in the workplace stimulates motivation and ownership, gives employees the decision-making capacity to address or avoid stressful situations and, overall, enables them to achieve higher levels of health and performance (e.g. Karasek, 2004b; Sparks et al., 2001). The predictive capacity of work-based support adds weight to a growing number of studies that have shown strong associations between the support received from colleagues and supervisors and employee wellbeing (Beehr et al., 1990; Leong et al., 1996). Supervisors and more senior personnel are a particularly valuable source of support since they often have the authority and the knowledge to address the specific work-related needs of employees (Beehr et al., 1990). Managers and team leaders, therefore, need to develop formal and informal mechanisms for identifying the support needs of employees and making sure all staff have the information, guidance and resources required to meet organizational objectives. An important preliminary step, according to several authors, is to raise awareness among managers of the importance of support (Sparks et al., 2001) and provide managers with interpersonal skills training to ensure they have the capacity to become effective support providers (Jex, 1998). Job-specific variables Contrary to expectations, the job-specific variables were not predictive of OCB. However, their relationship with job satisfaction and, to a lesser extent, psychological health suggests that they should still be addressed. Adverse working conditions that involve frequent interruptions and a lack of resources to accomplish tasks can be seen to be reflective of the efficiency driven measures that characterize public sector organizations (Dixon et al., 1998; Parker and Bradley, 2000). Identifying ways of reducing costs and ‘doing more with less’ are dominant objectives in many public sector agencies and steps need to be taken to ensure that the ill-effects of these reforms do not prevent the organization from achieving sustained success (Korunga et al., 2003). Within the organization taking part in the current study, further investigations are required to identify areas where resource deficiencies occur. A systematic review of work-flow, for example, could provide more accurate information on where resource constraints and frequent interruptions are particularly problematic. Such a review could also uncover more detailed information on the other resource and workload-related stressors that were not predictive of the outcome variables but were clearly a concern for a large number of survey respondents (i.e. ‘insufficient staff to complete work on time and to the standard expected’ and ‘not having enough time to do your job as well as you would like’).


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Social support and job control also hold opportunities for preventing or reducing the impact of the more situation-specific stressors. For example, supportive mechanisms such as performance feedback systems can be used to monitor individual workloads and ensure that employees have the resources required to manage the pace, volume and complexity of their work. Likewise, job enrichment programmes that empower employees to take greater control over work tasks can equip them with the ability to identify and address workplace stressors (such as frequent interruptions) before they begin to undermine job satisfaction and psychological health. Work characteristics and employee wellbeing The results of the present study indicate that the augmented DCS provided a much better explanation of job-related wellbeing (i.e. job satisfaction) than context-free wellbeing (psychological health). The measure of job-related wellbeing captures employees’ feelings about key aspects of the working environment and hence it is expected that the DCS would be more predictive of job satisfaction than the global measure. This result does not suggest that working conditions should be overlooked when developing strategies to improve employees’ psychological wellbeing. Psychological health and job satisfaction are highly correlated and fluctuations in one variable are likely to be associated with changes in the other (e.g. as found in Cass et al., 2003; Fogarty et al., 1999). Limitations There are a number of limitations that need to be taken into account when assessing the results of the present study. First, the helping dimension of OCB was used to measure citizenship behaviours on the basis that this dimension would occur more commonly in organizational settings. Future research should, therefore, examine other dimensions of OCB (e.g. civic virtue) and establish a better understanding of the relationship between the augmented DCS and broader dimensions of extra-role performance. The second limitation relates to the cross-sectional study design. The results are limited to the period that the participants were surveyed and, hence, the ability to develop firm conclusions regarding the connections between specific working conditions and OCB would be strengthened by a longitudinal study. A third limitation involves the reliance on the subjective views of the participants and the subsequent concern this raises about common method variance. This concern applies more to the dependent, rather than the independent variables. In terms of perceptions of working conditions, studies have shown a high correlation between expert ratings of job conditions and subjective assessments (Karasek et al., 1981; Spector, 1992). However additional objective measures of the outcome variables would have enhanced the validity of the findings. Conclusion The overall aim of this paper was to identify the relationship between specific work characteristics and citizenship behaviours. The results indicate that the generic components of the DCS, job control and social support, were closely linked to extrarole performance. These same variables also captured large portions of variance in job satisfaction and, to a lesser extent, psychological health. Together, these results suggest that the DCS accounts for working conditions that are not only influential in the onset of job strain, but are also key determinants of citizenship behaviours. The present study also highlights the utility and value of a parsimonious model such as the DCS, both in terms of

1816 The International Journal of Human Resource Management new situations (such as the reformed public sector) and as a predictor of key performance variables, as well as the often demonstrated impact on wellbeing. Now that the link between DCS and OCB has been found, future research may want to incorporate parallel objective assessments of OCBs (e.g. supervisor ratings) and explore the DCS’s utility in predicting the full range of in-role and extra-role performance, across a variety of settings.

Note 1 Initially, a three-step regression had been performed. The demographic variables, age and length

of time in current position, were entered into the regression equation in the first step to control for possible confounding effects. No relationship was found between the demographic variables and the outcome variables and the demographic variables were removed from subsequent analyses presented here.

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