Stress, job control and other job elements: A study of office workers

Abstract

In this study, the influence of job control on stress was examined. A model to examine how various job elements, including job control, affect worker stress was tested in a population of 170 office workers. It was proposed that job control was a primary causal determinant of stress outcomes either directly or by how it is influenced by other job elements (job content, demands and career/future concerns). Overall, the findings suggest that job control can influence stress, but that job demands and career/future concerns also contributed to the stress outcomes independently of any influence on job control. The use of multiple indicators of stress was useful because it shows that different job elements influence different indicators of stress.