Job Control and Support Lowered Fatigue, Raised Motivation

posted by jmorgan on Tuesday, March 22, 2011
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In a survey, 555 nurses rated:

  • how hard their work was;
  • how much control they had over their work;
  • how much help they got from colleagues (bosses and coworkers);
  • how motivated they felt; and
  • how tired they were at the end of the day.

The harder the job, the more important having control over their own jobs was in keeping these nurses from getting tired. In harder jobs, either higher job self-direction or higher support (or both) was a major plus for worker motivation. And feelings of high job support seemed to raise motivation, regardless of job demands or control, and may have reduced fatigue.

Source: Van Yperen, N., and M. Hagedoorn (03), "Do High Job Demands Increase Intrinsic Motivation or Fatigue or Both? The Role of Job Control and Job Social Support," Academy of Management Journal 46(3):339.

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