Additive and Multiplicative effects of work characteristics on entrepreneurs' health and success

Institute of Work-, Organizational, and Social Psychology

Additive and multiplicative effects of work characteristics on entrepreneurs‘ health and

success

Dominika DejUte Stephan

Jürgen Wegge

15th International Conference of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 25-8 May 2011

Effects of work characteristics on entrepreneurs‘ health and success

Dominika Dej

Entrepreneur

• Company‘s owner and leader who takes financial, social, and

psychological risks

• He or she is at the heart of the company

• Poor health found to be a frequent reason for company failure and

closure

• Good health found to be related to company success

(Based on Bosma, Jones, Autio & Levie, 2008; Goebel, 1991; Gorgievski-Duijvesteijn, Bakker, Schaufeli & Van der Heijden, 2005; Korunka, Frank & Becker, 1993; Schaarschmidt & Fischer, 2001).

Why is entrepreneurs‘ health worthy studying?


Dominika Dej

• Work characteristics relate to employee work satisfaction,

motivation, well-being, and performance (Humphrey, Nahrgang &

Morgeson, 2007; Karasek, 1979)

• Job demands induce a health impairment process that increases

psychological distress and leads to negative health outcomes among

employees (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Stansfeld & Candy, 2006)

• Job resources foster motivational process and increase employee

motivation and performance (Salanova & Schaufeli, 2008; Schaufeli, Taris &

Bakker, 2006)

State-of-the-art in job design research


Dominika Dej

Entrepreneurs‘ extreme work characteristics levels

Entrepreneurs typically face high levels of work characteristics

• Industry-specific job demands, i.e. time pressure, pressure to

innovate, seasonal workload fluctuations, physical demands, as well

as typical entrepreneurial demands related to company

management

• High job resources i.e. task significance, task meaningfulness,

autonomy, skill variety, and feedback

(Baron, 2010; Baum & Locke, 2004; Stephan & Rösler, 2010; Vogt, 2004)


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How do work characteristics impact

entrepreneurs‘ health impairment and

motivational processes?

Research question

Impact on psychological health and vital exhaustion

Impact on business performance and subjective success


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Job demands-control-support model

(Johnson & Hall, 1988; Karasek, 1979)

High

Low

Low High

Job

con

trol

Psychological job demands

Strain

Learning, activation

Low-strain job

No health risk,

low activation

Passive job

Low activation, decreased

problem-solving ability

Active job

Good health, personality

development

High-strain job

Health risks

Socia

l su

pp

ort


Dominika Dej

Additive effects of work characteristics

- job demands are a standard against which resources are compared- the most strain is experienced when demands are high and the resources

low (Vegchel, De Jonge & Landsbergis, 2005)

Multiplicative interaction effect

- job resources influence the strength of the relationship between job demands and strain (the buffer hypothesis, Edwards & Cooper, 1990)

- job resources reduce or even eliminate job demands’ potentially negative impact on strain

Empirical support for additive effects, rather than multiplicative effects

(Häusser, Mojzisch, Niesel & Schulz-Hardt, 2010; Van der Doef & Maes, 1999)

Job demands-control-support model


Dominika Dej

Testing the isostrain hypothesis

Hypothesis 1: Entrepreneurs who work under conditions of high psychological job demands, low job control, and low social support will report:

a) the lowest psychological health, and

b) the highest vital exhaustion, compared to entrepreneurs working

under other work characteristics combinations.

Hypothesis 2: Job control and social support will – separately and jointly – moderate the relationship between psychological job demands and

a) psychological healthb) vital exhaustion.


Dominika Dej

Hypothesis 3: Entrepreneurs who work under conditions of high psychological job demands, high job control, and high social support (an active work situation) will report:

a) the highest work engagement, b) the highest work satisfaction, c) the highest growth in employee numbers, and d) the highest annual income, compared to entrepreneurs working

under other work characteristics combinations.

Hypothesis 4: Job control and social support will – separately and jointly – moderate the relationship between psychological job demands and success outcomes (a to d).

Testing the learning hypothesis


Dominika Dej 1010

SampleN=325

Entrepreneurs

Companies

Age M=44, SD=9.24, 77% men Information technology (IT, N=138)Gastronomy (N=187) Age M=16, SD=20.37Employees number M=23, SD=30

IV Job controlPsychological job demandsSocial support

(7 Items, α=.73), Karasek, 1998(6 Items, α=.64), Karasek, 1998 (15 Items, α=.84), Udris & Rieman, 1999

DV Vital exhaustionPsychological health

Work engagementWork satisfactionEmployee growth, annual entrepreneur income

(9 Items, α=.83), Kopp et al., 1998(6 Items, α=.76), Bullinger & Kirchberger, 1998(9 Items, α=.91), Schaufeli et al., 2006(12 Items, α=.76), Bellach et al., 1998 (2 Items, α=.74), Stephan et al., 2005

Methods


Dominika Dej

Job demands

Job controlSocial support

Psychological health (Mean)

Vital exhaustion (Sum)

low high high 52.71 3.36

high high high 51.49 4.27

lowlow

lowhigh

highlow

49.45 5.08

highhigh

highlow

lowhigh

46.99 7.02

low low low 49.05 7.30

high low low 44.95 6.71

F(5, 326)= 4.19*

F(5, 326)= 6.137*

Results: Isostrain hypothesis


Dominika Dej

H2: Neither job resources nor social support – separately or jointly – moderate psychological job demands’ effects on vital exhaustion and psychological health

• Insignificant interaction effects (three-way moderated hierarchical regressions), at p < .05 level

• Significant main effects

Psychological job demands on vital exhaustion (ß = .17, p < .05)

Social support on vital exhaustion (ß = -.17, p < .05)


Dominika Dej

Job demands

Job control

Social support

Work engagement(Mean)

Work satisfaction(Mean)

Employee growth

Annual entrepreneur income

low high high 4.68 5.38 44.54 4.64

high high high 4.88 5.13 54.19 4.68

low low high4.12 4.84 33.64 4.50

low high low

high high low4.59 4.29 25.14 4.56

high low high

low low low 3.96 4.64 17.91 4.56

high low low 4.60 4.62 30.92 4.40

F(5, 175)= 5.04*

F(5, 326)= 7.08*

F(5, 312)= .16*

F(5, 234)= 1.83 n.s.

Results: Learning hypothesis


Dominika Dej

H4: Neither job resources nor social support – separately or jointly – moderate psychological job demands’ effects on work engagement, work satisfaction, and success (employee growth and annual entrepreneur income)

• Insignificant interaction effects (three-way moderated hierarchical regressions), at p < .05 level

• Significant main effects

Job control on work engagement (ß = .26, p < .05)

Job control on employee growth (ß = .15, p < .05)

Social support on work satisfaction (ß = .23, < .05)


Dominika Dej

Implications for theory and future research

• Support for the validity of the demand-control-support model in entrepreneurial settings

• Integration of different job demands and job resources that fit entrepreneurs‘ jobs (match hypothesis of De Jonge & Dormann, 2006).

Practical implications

• Too much of a good think (job resources) may not necessarily be helpful to reduce stress

• Job demand reduction seems a promising avenue for promoting entrepreneurial health.


Dominika Dej

Thank you!

[email protected]

http://www.wop-psychology.de

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Additive and Multiplicative effects of work characteristics on entrepreneurs' health and success