Relationships between job characteristics and occupational well-being: Are they similar across levels of analysis?

Theory and practice in occupational health psychology have hitherto mostly assumed that how job characteristics relate to occupational well-being is similar across levels of analysis, yet this remains empirically underexplored. We tested this implicit "assumption of homology" using the Dem...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marc van Veldhoven, Riccardo Peccei, Aneeqa Suhail, Karina van de Voorde, Marcel Croon, Joran Jongerling
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0328508
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849687267241623552
author Marc van Veldhoven
Riccardo Peccei
Aneeqa Suhail
Karina van de Voorde
Marcel Croon
Joran Jongerling
author_facet Marc van Veldhoven
Riccardo Peccei
Aneeqa Suhail
Karina van de Voorde
Marcel Croon
Joran Jongerling
author_sort Marc van Veldhoven
collection DOAJ
description Theory and practice in occupational health psychology have hitherto mostly assumed that how job characteristics relate to occupational well-being is similar across levels of analysis, yet this remains empirically underexplored. We tested this implicit "assumption of homology" using the Demand-Control Model as our starting point. We analyzed three-level data from 12,658 employees in 1,116 work units from 243 organizations in the Netherlands. Results indicate that for job demands and participation homology of relationships is mostly confirmed, but not for skill variety and job autonomy. In addition, we generally did not find relationships becoming stronger from the individual to the departmental to the organizational level. Future theory needs to conceptualize better how individual and aggregate-level effects of skill variety/autonomy combine and interact in influencing occupational well-being. For these job characteristics we need multi-level theorizing. For practice, our results point towards caution in using individual survey scores on skill variety/autonomy for the purpose of risk monitoring and proposing follow-up policy/interventions at aggregate levels such as departments and organizations.
format Article
id doaj-art-94bd51a097114de9b73d9b1da7bee2b5
institution DOAJ
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-94bd51a097114de9b73d9b1da7bee2b52025-08-20T03:22:22ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01207e032850810.1371/journal.pone.0328508Relationships between job characteristics and occupational well-being: Are they similar across levels of analysis?Marc van VeldhovenRiccardo PecceiAneeqa SuhailKarina van de VoordeMarcel CroonJoran JongerlingTheory and practice in occupational health psychology have hitherto mostly assumed that how job characteristics relate to occupational well-being is similar across levels of analysis, yet this remains empirically underexplored. We tested this implicit "assumption of homology" using the Demand-Control Model as our starting point. We analyzed three-level data from 12,658 employees in 1,116 work units from 243 organizations in the Netherlands. Results indicate that for job demands and participation homology of relationships is mostly confirmed, but not for skill variety and job autonomy. In addition, we generally did not find relationships becoming stronger from the individual to the departmental to the organizational level. Future theory needs to conceptualize better how individual and aggregate-level effects of skill variety/autonomy combine and interact in influencing occupational well-being. For these job characteristics we need multi-level theorizing. For practice, our results point towards caution in using individual survey scores on skill variety/autonomy for the purpose of risk monitoring and proposing follow-up policy/interventions at aggregate levels such as departments and organizations.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0328508
spellingShingle Marc van Veldhoven
Riccardo Peccei
Aneeqa Suhail
Karina van de Voorde
Marcel Croon
Joran Jongerling
Relationships between job characteristics and occupational well-being: Are they similar across levels of analysis?
PLoS ONE
title Relationships between job characteristics and occupational well-being: Are they similar across levels of analysis?
title_full Relationships between job characteristics and occupational well-being: Are they similar across levels of analysis?
title_fullStr Relationships between job characteristics and occupational well-being: Are they similar across levels of analysis?
title_full_unstemmed Relationships between job characteristics and occupational well-being: Are they similar across levels of analysis?
title_short Relationships between job characteristics and occupational well-being: Are they similar across levels of analysis?
title_sort relationships between job characteristics and occupational well being are they similar across levels of analysis
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0328508
work_keys_str_mv AT marcvanveldhoven relationshipsbetweenjobcharacteristicsandoccupationalwellbeingaretheysimilaracrosslevelsofanalysis
AT riccardopeccei relationshipsbetweenjobcharacteristicsandoccupationalwellbeingaretheysimilaracrosslevelsofanalysis
AT aneeqasuhail relationshipsbetweenjobcharacteristicsandoccupationalwellbeingaretheysimilaracrosslevelsofanalysis
AT karinavandevoorde relationshipsbetweenjobcharacteristicsandoccupationalwellbeingaretheysimilaracrosslevelsofanalysis
AT marcelcroon relationshipsbetweenjobcharacteristicsandoccupationalwellbeingaretheysimilaracrosslevelsofanalysis
AT joranjongerling relationshipsbetweenjobcharacteristicsandoccupationalwellbeingaretheysimilaracrosslevelsofanalysis