Job autonomy, well-being, and health : a study among Dutch health care workers

Abstract

General introduction 1.1Modern working life: a worker's meat or poison?1.2Research problem and aims of the study 1.3Overview of the thesis Research problem and aims of the studyThe present study focuses on job autonomy primarily in the context of job redesign, and elaborates the issues discussed earlier.Despite what is already known about the theoretical and practical implications of job autonomy, there are several unresolved questions.We need therefore to know something about (1) the concept of job autonomy and (2) the processes by which job autonomy affects well-being and health.As a consequence, the first issue of this thesis concerns the conceptualization, operationalization and assessment of job autonomy.The second issue deals with the specific function of job autonomy in the associations between job characteristics and psychological outcomes like well-being and health.As expressed in the subtitle of this thesis, this is a study among health care workers, rather than health care as a topic per se.We chose health care workers as study population for several reasons.For instance, job autonomy is a key issue in many of the new combined management and care delivery systems in health care.In addition, health care workers are a relatively heterogeneous group, which may lead to sufficient statistical variance and diversity in observations (cf.Fox, Dwyer & Ganster, 1993).The following general research problem is evaluated in this thesis: *Whaf /s t/ie ro/e of yob at/fonomy /n fne re/af/onsft/p öefweenyot» c/?aracter/sf/cs on fhe one nand, and we//-oe/ng and hea/rh on fhe ofher?" •••"'•;• ' •> * Chapter Chapter 2 Chapter 2 JOB AUTONOMY 2.1 Job autonomy: concept, measurement, and assessment 2. J. f A typo/ogy of the yob autonomy concept Schwab (1980) has emphasized that a clear conceptual understanding of a variable is critical for its proper operationalization.As mentioned earlier, autonomy is a term derived from the vernacular and has many different meanings in different -research -fields.Therefore, it requires a more precise definition before it can serve effectively in scientific discourse (Farh & Scott, 1983).Many of the job autonomy studies may be placed under the job redesign tradition (see chapter 1).The job redesign literature has revealed a broad spectrum of definitions, descriptions and operationalizations of job autonomy.Yet, it is striking that all efforts have not resulted in a clear integrative concept of job autonomy (Breaugh, 1985;Farh & Scott, 1983;Ganster & Fusilier, 1989; De Jonge, 1992;De Jonge, Landeweerd & Van Breukelen, 1994;Kiggundu, 1983).A comprehensive study of the literature has resulted in a typology of job autonomy, which represents the framework of the next subsections.On the basis of relevant studies (e.g., Bailyn, 1985;Breaugh, 1985;Frese & Zapf, 1988;Ganster, 1989) the following typology of job autonomy was generated:1) job autonomy as an absolute or a relative concept; 2) job autonomy as a global (undifferentiated) or a multi-facet (differentiated) construct; 3) general level (unidimensional) versus multi-level (multidimensional) job autonomy; 4) objective versus subjective job autonomy.These criteria are not mutually exclusive: combinations of aspects do occur.For example, job autonomy as a relative concept requires more than one single task element.Additionally, subjective assessment of job autonomy might be unidimensional as well as multidimensional.We will discuss these aspects in the next three subsections.

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