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Abstract

High job demand is commonly associated with increased levels of stress, burnout and negative organisational outcomes especially among workers in the agricultural industry. According to the Job Demand Resources (JD-R) model, resources provide a buffer against the negative effects of high job demands. One such resource that shows promise in negating the effects of high job demands is individuals’ selfdetermination. Research has shown that individuals who possess high levels of selfdetermination are less likely to exhibit negative psychological and organisational outcomes. However, while autonomy among the agricultural workforce is highly prized, less is known wherher different elements of self-determination will moderate the relationships between high job demand and organisational outcomes as well as psychological outcomes among high workload agricultural workers. Thus, this study will examine the moderating role of self-determination (e.g., autonomy, competence and relatedness) in the relationship between high job demand, psychological health as well as organisational health outcomes among agricultural workers in Australia.

The agriculture industry is characterised by an autonomous working environment. Despite this, significant job stressors such as high workload pervade the industry due to the requirement to tend to animals and crops at various hours of the day and night (Australian Safety and Compensation Council, 2006). Consequently, many agriculture workers suffered high levels of stress and burnout. According to the Job-Demand Resources (JD-R) model, high job demands include any psychological, organisational, social and physical aspects of a job that require sustained physical and psychological effort (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). For instance, high workload has been cited as a job demand that incurs significant psychological and organisational (Schaufeli, & Bakker, 2004) costs, such as stress and burnout (Bakker, Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005). Research has also found that excessive workload can lend itself to low levels of effective work behaviours such as lack of helpful behaviours towards colleagues (Eatough, Chang, Miloslavic, & Johnson, 2011).

Stress is a physiological and psychological arousal that causes significant strain on employees (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). The JD-R model posits that depletion of psychological and physical resources results in occupational stress when demands exceed an individual’s resource to deal with those demands (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Similarly, Folkman and Lazarus (1984) propose that stress occurs when an individual perceives environmental stressors as threatening and fails to believe they have the resources to cope. Stress and high job demand is also closely associated with burnout (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). Burnout is defined as the emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment an individual feels when employed in work (Malasch,

1981). Similar to stress, burnout has been typically found in environments where job demands are excessive or unfavourable to employees (Bakker, Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005). Finally, high job demands have been found to negatively influence behaviours and extra-role activities that employees engage in while at work (Cropanzano, Byrne & Rupp, 2003). Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) refers to the voluntary behaviours employees engage in which are not recognised by formal rewards structures (Podsakoff, Whiting, & Blume, 2009). According to Cropanzano, Byrne and Rupp (2003), when job demands are excessive, individuals are less likely to engage in pro-social and voluntary behaviours due to time restrictions and emotional exhaustion. As agricultural life requires individuals to live in intimate communities for long periods of time, it is envisaged that OCB will be essential for promoting psychological wellbeing, social cohesion and organisational effectiveness.

While the JD-R model contends that job demands contribute to negative psychological and organisational outcomes, some resources have been found to moderate the impact of excessive job demands (Van den Broeck, Vansteenkiste, De Witte, & Lens, 2008). One such motivational resource shown to buffer the effect of high work demands is the perceived fulfillment of basic psychological needs, as defined by self-determination theory (Fernet, Guay, & Senécal, 2004). Selfdetermination theory (SDT) posits that individuals have three distinct psychological needs, namely autonomy, competence and relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Autonomy refers to the volitional experience based on one’s self-directed actions, competence refers to an individual’s belief in attaining goals from action, and relatedness refers to the degree of connectedness one feels with others. According to SDT, psychological resources energize and direct behaviour towards goal attainment without the need for external reinforcers (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Studies in the agriculture industry have highlighted the importance of selfdetermination to workers (Australian Safety and Compensation Council, 2006). For example, Dury and Lower (2004) highlighted the importance of a culture of “rugged individualism” among agriculture workers where qualities of self-reliance are highly prized. As such, this study will examine how employees’ self- determination (as measured by levels of autonomy, competence and relatedness) will moderate the relationship between high job demand and psychological health outcomes (e.g., stress and burnout) as well as between high job demand and oganisational citizenship behaviour among agricultural workers. As individuals working in Agriculture have been found to be vulnerable to these negative outcomes (Botha & White, 2013), it is predicted that high job demands will be associated with high levels of stress and burnout, but low levels of organisational citizenship behaviour. However, worker’s levels of self-determinations should moderate this relationship.

H1: High job demand is positively associated with stress and burnout but negatively associated with OCB

H2: Self-determination will moderate the relationship between high job demand and stress, burnout and OCB. Specifically, workers with high levels of self-determination (as measured by autonomy, competence or relatedness) will be less impacted by high job demand and suffered less stress and burnout than workers’ with low levels of self-determination. Similarly, workers with high levels of self-determination (as measured by autonomy, competence or relatedness) will engage in more OCB than workers with low levels of selfdetermination.

Job Demand

Autonomy,

Competence,

Relatedness

(

SDT

)

Stress

Burnout

OCB

Discussion

It is anticipated that this study will illustrate a buffering effect of selfdetermination on all the criterion variables when job demands are high. Workers who perceive to have autonomy over their job, are connected closely with others (relatedness), believe they are competent to complete tasks, will be more committed to, and engage in extra-role activities within the organisation. Due to increased perception of autonomy, relatedness and competence, those high in self-determination will report less stress compared to those who are low in these self-determination elements. Additionally, the greater perceived fulfilment of these psychological needs will result in a reduction of symptoms of burnout, as they are less likely to withdraw from the stresses and strains of everyday work due to their intrinsically driven motivation.

References