A test of the Job Demands-Resources model: A social identity theory perspective.

The Job Demands-Resources mode has given rise to numerous studies aimed at a better understanding of positive and negative aspects of wellbeing at work. The existence of a motivational and an energetic process leading to, respectively, engagement and exhaustion has been demonstrated. The aim of our study is to test this model using predictors derived from Social Identity Theory (or SIT). We hypothesize that working in a negatively valued occupation is associated with exhaustion and health problems, whereas a high identification with one’s occupational group is associated to engagement and low intent to quit the organisation (or IQ).
Structural equation modelling was performed on data collected in a public administration (N = 954). We collected measures of occupation value, group identification, exhaustion, engagement, health problems and IQ. Items were parcelled based on their skewness.
Excepted from Chi² being significant (p = .00), fit indices were satisfactory. The link between engagement and IQ is not significant but all other links go in the expected direction.
We conclude that a test of the JDR model using SIT brings conclusive results. As a further step, it might be interesting to test interactive effects: results suggest that identification might buffer the relation between occupation value and exhaustion. Second, it might be interesting to introduce boundaries permeability, another key concept of SIT, as a third predictor.