The Job Demands-Resources model: A three-year cross-lagged study of burnout, depression, commitment, and work engagement

Abstract

By using a full panel design in a representative sample of Finnish dentists (N=2555), the present study aimed to test longitudinally the motivational and health impairment processes as proposed in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. The second aim was to investigate whether home resources and home demands have an additional influence on both processes over time. The hypotheses were tested with cross-lagged analyses based on two waves over a three-year period. The results supported both the motivational process and the health impairment process. Job resources influenced future work engagement, which, in turn, predicted organizational commitment, whereas job demands predicted burnout over time, which, in turn, predicted future depression. In addition, job resources had a weak negative impact on burnout. Home demands and home resources did not influence the motivational or health impairment process over time. The results support the central role of work characteristics for health and well-being. By integrating both human thriving and ill-health in the same model, the JD-R model may help to bridge the gap between “negative” and “positive” psychology.

Keywords:

• Job Demands-Resources model
• work engagement
• burnout
• well-being
• depression
• organizational commitment
• cross-lagged panel analysis
• positive psychology
• dentists

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank M.A. Riku Perhoniemi for his help in preparing this manuscript. We also thank the Finnish Work Environment Fund (project no. 105325) and the Finnish Dental Association for supporting this study.