Moderating Effect of Job Type on Job Characteristic—Worker Outcome Relationships

Abstract

There has been a great deal of research examining how characteristics of jobs impact employee work perceptions as well as worker outcomes and this question is typically viewed through the lens of the job characteristics model (JCM) (Oldham & Hackman, 1980). Despite the substantial literature on this model, questions are now being raised about the JCM's generalizability across job types. This study tested job type as a moderator for job characteristic-worker outcome relationships through the use of a multilevel design and data from 11,718 employees in 24 countries.Findings indicate a moderating effect of job type on relationships between the job characteristics of autonomy, skill variety, and task significance with the worker outcomes of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and perceptions of stress. This has implications for work design across jobs and findings indicate these relationships are complicated in that they are dependent upon job type, the specific job characteristic, and the worker outcome in question. Thus, given the cost and time involved in work redesign, such redesign attempts should be tailored to the outcomes a given organization intends to improve instead of implementing higher levels of numerous job characteristics across all job types and situations.