CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 109Job Satisfaction and Organizational BehaviorEmployee Performance and ManagementWorkplace Health and Well-being

The SMART model of work design: A higher order structure to help see the wood from the trees

Open access
Parker, Sharon K., Knight, Caroline·2024·Human Resource Management
DOI 10.1002/hrm.22200
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

We propose a new work design model, SMART work design, that identifies five higher order categories of work characteristics, including stimulating work characteristics (task variety, skill variety, information processing requirements, and problem‐solving requirements), mastery work characteristics (job feedback, feedback from others, and role clarity), autonomous work characteristics (decision‐making autonomy, timing autonomy, and method autonomy), relational work characteristics (social support, task significance, and beneficiary contact), and tolerable work characteristics (low levels of: role overload, work–home conflict, and role conflict). Higher order confirmatory factor analysis of working participants provided initial evidence of this structure (Study 1, N = 1107), which was replicated in an additional dataset (Study 2, time 1, N = 709). To provide further evidence, we examined Study 2 data across three waves ( N = 573) to show that each higher order factor at time 1 predicted time 3 job satisfaction either directly or via the theorized time 2 mediators (challenge appraisals, work meaningfulness, fulfillment of relatedness needs, and activated negative affect). In Study 3 ( N = 108), employees' scores on specific higher order variables correlated with leader ratings of performance in the expected ways. The SMART work design model provides a unique integrating and multidimensional theory of work design that extends beyond existing models. The model can be used to facilitate the synthesis of research knowledge and guide scholars and practitioners to diagnose and address contemporary work design challenges.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/hrm.22200

Cites

127 of 129 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Autonomy is linked to higher levels of creativity and accountability.

    “Fourth, Autonomy grants employees the freedom to make decisions and control their workflow, which has been linked to higher levels of creativity and accountability (Parker & Knight, 2024).”

    From Evaluation of the Sustainability of Organizational Welfare and Human Resources to Improving Long-Term Performance (2025) · cites this paper as Parker & Knight, 2024

    The ‘Autonomous work characteristics’ section defines autonomy as freedom in decision-making and control over work tasks, supporting the sentence’s description of autonomy. The Discussion reports positive correlations with task and proactive performance, but our copy does not establish a link to higher creativity or accountability. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • A well-structured job enhances productivity and fosters a more meaningful and engaging work experience.

    “A well-structured job enhances productivity and fosters a more meaningful and engaging work experience (Parker & Knight, 2024).”

    From Evaluation of the Sustainability of Organizational Welfare and Human Resources to Improving Long-Term Performance (2025) · cites this paper as Parker & Knight, 2024

    The Stimulating work characteristics section links work design to meaningfulness and job satisfaction, and the Discussion reports positive associations between several work characteristics and leader-rated job performance. This supports the broad idea of more meaningful work and better performance, but the paper reports associations rather than establishing that job design enhances productivity; it does not directly measure an engaging work experience. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. Beehr, T. A., Jex, S. M., Stacy, B. A., & Murray, M. A. (2000). Work stressors and coworker support as predictors of individual strain and job performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21(4), 391-405. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1379(200006)21:4<391::AID-JOB 15>3.0.CO;2-9 · DOI
  2. In M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and orga- nizational psychology (pp. 445-505). Consulting Psychologists Press.
  3. March, J. C., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. Wiley.
  4. Mullarkey, S., Jackson, P. R., & Parker, S. K. (1995). Employee reactions to JIT manufacturing practices: A two-phase investigation. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 15(11), 62-79. https://doi.org/10.5465/256420 · DOI
  5. Schelling, T. C. (1960). The strategy of conflict. Harvard University Press.
  6. Stinchcombe, A. L. (1965). Social structure and organizations. In J. P. March (Ed.), Handbook of Organtzatlons (pp. 142-193).
  7. ch7 · DOI
  8. Wall, T. D., & Jackson, P. R. (1995). New manufacturing initiatives and shopfloor work design. In A. Howard (Ed.), The changing nature of work (pp. 139-174). Jossey-Bass/Wiley.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Parker, S. K., & Knight, C.
Affiliations
  • Curtin University (AU)
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
Corresponding author
Parker, Sharon K.
ORCID
Venue
Human Resource Management
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2023-11-27
Volume
63
Issue
2
Pages
265-291
ISSN
  • 0090-4848 (ISSN-L)
  • 1099-050X
DOI
10.1002/hrm.22200
OpenAlex
W4389068600
Cited by
108
References
127
Citations by year
2026: 50 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 19
FWCI
31.33
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Human Resource Management (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • eSpace (Curtin University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Australian Research Council (FL160100033)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Employee Performance and Management
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
Keywords
job design, job satisfaction, challenge appraisal, meaningful work, need for relatedness, negative affect, role overload, work-home conflict, role conflict, employee performance, task variety, skill variety, decision-making autonomy, social support, task significance

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review