The DOI matches its Crossref record.
The Job Demand-Control (-Support) Model and psychological well-being: A review of 20 years of empirical research
Abstract
The Job Demand-Control (JDC) model (Karasek, 1979) and the Job Demand-Control-Support (JDCS) model (Johnson, and Hall, 1988) have dominated research on occupational stress in the last 20 years. This detailed narrative review focuses on the JDC(S) model in relation to psychological well-being. It covers research from 63 samples, published in the period 1979-1997. In the review a distinction is drawn between two different hypotheses prevailing in research on the models. According to the strain hypothesis of the JDC model, employees working in a high-strain job (high demands-low control) experience the lowest well-being. The buffer hypothesis states that control can moderate the negative effects of high demands on well-being. Translating these hypotheses to the expanded JDCS model, the iso-strain hypothesis predicts the most negative outcomes among workers in an iso-strain job (high demands-low control-low social support/isolation), whereas the buffer hypothesis states that social support can moderate the negative impact of high strain on well-being. Although the literature gives considerable support for the strain and iso-strain hypotheses, support for the moderating influence of job control and social support is less consistent. The conceptualization of demands and control is a key factor in discriminating supportive from nonsupportive studies. Only aspects of job control that correspond to the specific demands of a given job moderate the impact of high demands on well-being. Furthermore, certain subpopulations appear to be more vulnerable to high (iso)strain, whereas others benefit more from high control. On the basis of the results of this review, suggestions for future research and theoretical development are formulated.
Overview
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.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
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.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cited by
The Job Demands‐Resources model: state of the art
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007) · Journal of Managerial Psychology · doi:10.1108/02683940710733115 · Cited by 12,996
Using the job demands-resources model to predict burnout and performance
Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., & Verbeke, W. (2004) · Human Resource Management · doi:10.1002/hrm.20004 · Cited by 2,565
Job Resources Buffer the Impact of Job Demands on Burnout.
Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., & Euwema, M. C. (2005) · Journal of Occupational Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/1076-8998.10.2.170 · Cited by 2,483
Job resources boost work engagement, particularly when job demands are high.
Bakker, A. B., Hakanen, J. J., Demerouti, E., & Xanthopoulou, D. (2007) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.99.2.274 · Cited by 2,111
Ragu-Nathan, T. S., Tarafdar, M., Ragu-Nathan, B. S., & Tu, Q. (2008) · Information Systems Research · doi:10.1287/isre.1070.0165 · Cited by 2,060
Precarious Employment: Understanding an Emerging Social Determinant of Health
Benach, J., Vives, A., Amable, M., Vanroelen, C., Tarafa, G., & Muntaner, C. (2014) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182500 · Cited by 1,354
Workplace harassment from the victim’s perspective: a theoretical model and meta-analysis.
Bowling, N. A., & Beehr, T. A. (2006) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.91.5.998 · Cited by 1,320
A comparison of the construct validity of two burnout measures in two groups of professionals.
Shirom, A., & Melamed, S. (2006) · International Journal of Stress Management · doi:10.1037/1072-5245.13.2.176 · Cited by 763
Work, recovery activities, and individual well-being: A diary study.
Sonnentag, S. (2001) · Journal of Occupational Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/1076-8998.6.3.196 · Cited by 731
Gillespie, N. A., Walsh, M., Winefield, A. H., Dua, J., & Stough, C. (2001) · Work & Stress · doi:10.1080/02678370117944 · Cited by 695
Sonnentag, S., & Bayer, U.-V. (2005) · Journal of Occupational Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/1076-8998.10.4.393 · Cited by 584
De Lange *, A. H., Taris, T. W., Kompier, M. A. J., Houtman, I. L. D., & Bongers, P. M. (2004) · Work & Stress · doi:10.1080/02678370412331270860 · Cited by 534
Brunetto, Y., Teo, S. T. T., Shacklock, K., & Farr‐Wharton, R. (2012) · Human Resource Management Journal · doi:10.1111/j.1748-8583.2012.00198.x · Cited by 480
Occupational stress, job characteristics, coping, and the mental health of nurses
Mark, G., & Smith, A. P. (2012) · British Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8287.2011.02051.x · Cited by 417
When do job demands particularly predict burnout?: The moderating role of job resources
Xanthopoulou, D., Bakker, A. B., Dollard, M. F., Demerouti, E., Schaufeli, W. B., Taris, T. W., & Schreurs, P. J. G. (2007) · Journal of Managerial Psychology · doi:10.1108/02683940710837714 · Cited by 409
Exploring the relationship between work-related rumination, sleep quality, and work-related fatigue
Querstret, D., & Cropley, M. (2012) · Journal of Occupational Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0028552 · Cited by 401
College Student Stressors: A Review of the Qualitative Research
Hurst, C. S., Baranik, L. E., & Daniel, F. (2013) · Stress and Health · doi:10.1002/smi.2465 · Cited by 312
de Croon, E. M., Sluiter, J. K., Blonk, R. W. B., Broersen, J. P. J., & Frings-Dresen, M. H. W. (2004) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.89.3.442 · Cited by 252
Large-scale wearable data reveal digital phenotypes for daily-life stress detection
Smets, E., Rios Velazquez, E., Schiavone, G., Chakroun, I., D’Hondt, E., De Raedt, W., Cornelis, J., Janssens, O., Van Hoecke, S., Claes, S., et al. (2018) · npj Digital Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41746-018-0074-9 · Cited by 250
Work stress and attentional difficulties: An initial study on burnout and cognitive failures
Linden, D. V. D., Keijsers, G. P. J., Eling, P., & Schaijk, R. V. (2005) · Work & Stress · doi:10.1080/02678370500065275 · Cited by 248
Siltaloppi, M., Kinnunen, U., & Feldt, T. (2009) · Work & Stress · doi:10.1080/02678370903415572 · Cited by 240
Tams, S., Legoux, R., & Léger, P.-M. (2018) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.11.026 · Cited by 188
Intraindividual models of employee well-being: What have we learned and where do we go from here?
Ilies, R., Aw, S. S. Y., & Pluut, H. (2015) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2015.1071422 · Cited by 167
Holzberger, D., Philipp, A., & Kunter, M. (2014) · Contemporary Educational Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2014.02.001 · Cited by 144
Ilies, R., Huth, M., Ryan, A. M., & Dimotakis, N. (2015) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/edu0000029 · Cited by 132
Fila, M. J., Purl, J., & Griffeth, R. W. (2017) · Human Resource Management Review · doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2016.09.004 · Cited by 115
Parker, S. L., Jimmieson, N. L., & Amiot, C. E. (2010) · Journal of Vocational Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2009.06.010 · Cited by 107
Van Bogaert, P., Adriaenssens, J., Dilles, T., Martens, D., Van Rompaey, B., & Timmermans, O. (2014) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/jan.12449 · Cited by 104
Recovery opportunities, work-home interference, and well-being among managers
Taris, T. W., Beckers, D. G. J., Verhoeven, L. C., Geurts, S. A. E., Kompier, M. A. J., & van der Linden, D. (2006) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/13594320500513889 · Cited by 100
Leisure as a coping resource: a test of the job demand-control-support model
Joudrey, A. D., & Wallace, J. E. (2009) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/0018726708100357 · Cited by 98
The moderating role of autonomous motivation in the job demands-strain relation: A two sample study
Trépanier, S.-G., Fernet, C., & Austin, S. (2013) · Motivation and Emotion · doi:10.1007/s11031-012-9290-9 · Cited by 75
Techno-stressors, distress and strain: the roles of leadership and competitive climates
Turel, O., & Gaudioso, F. (2018) · Cognition, Technology & Work · doi:10.1007/s10111-018-0461-7 · Cited by 72
Tang, K. (2014) · Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health · doi:10.5271/sjweh.3431 · Cited by 70
Pijpker, R., Vaandrager, L., Veen, E. J., & Koelen, M. A. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17010055 · Cited by 64
Kittel, A. F. D., Kunz, R. A. C., & Seufert, T. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.643748 · Cited by 52
Fløvik, L., Knardahl, S., & Christensen, J. O. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02845 · Cited by 50
Vanroelen, C., Levecque, K., & Louckx, F. (2009) · International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health · doi:10.1007/s00420-008-0340-2 · Cited by 44
Chambel, M. J., Sobral, F., Espada, M., & Curral, L. (2015) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2013.849246 · Cited by 40
Digitally driven: how location based services impact the work practices of London bus drivers
Pritchard, G., Vines, J., Briggs, P., Thomas, L., & Olivier, P. (2014) · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2556288.2557156 · Cited by 40
Ma, Y., & Turel, O. (2019) · Cognition, Technology & Work · doi:10.1007/s10111-018-0503-1 · Cited by 38
Mental disorders: employment and work productivity in Singapore
Chong, S. A., Vaingankar, J. A., Abdin, E., & Subramaniam, M. (2013) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-012-0526-5 · Cited by 31
Devereux, J. J., Rydstedt, L. W., & Cropley, M. (2011) · Ergonomics · doi:10.1080/00140139.2011.595830 · Cited by 31
Solms, L., van Vianen, A. E. M., Theeboom, T., Koen, J., de Pagter, A. P. J., & de Hoog, M. (2019) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031053 · Cited by 31
Characteristics of suitable work from the perspective of patients with fibromyalgia
Bossema, E. R., Kool, M. B., Cornet, D., Vermaas, P., de Jong, M., van Middendorp, H., & Geenen, R. (2012) · Rheumatology · doi:10.1093/rheumatology/ker312 · Cited by 30
Molloy, G. J., Johnston, D. W., Johnston, M., Gao, C., Witham, M. D., Struthers, A. D., & McMurdo, M. E. T. (2008) · British Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1348/135910707x203363 · Cited by 28
Calling it quits: a longitudinal study of factors associated with dropout among doctoral students
Glorieux, A., Spruyt, B., Minnen, J., & van Tienoven, T. P. (2025) · Studies in Continuing Education · doi:10.1080/0158037x.2024.2314694 · Cited by 26
Perceptions of the work environment among people with experience of long term sick leave
Ekbladh, E. (2010) · Work · doi:10.3233/wor-2010-0964 · Cited by 21
Mental Health Effects of Changes in Psychosocial Work Characteristics: A Prospective Cohort Study
De Raeve, L., Vasse, R. M., Jansen, N. W. H., van den Brandt, P. A., & Kant, I. (2007) · Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine · doi:10.1097/jom.0b013e31811eadd3 · Cited by 16
Gao, X., Zhou, X., & Leong, F. T. L. (2025) · Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being · doi:10.1111/aphw.12640 · Cited by 8
(2007) · Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja
Metadata
- Authors
- Van der Doef, M., & Maes, S.
- Venue
- Work & Stress
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1999-04
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 87-114
- ISSN
- 0267-8373 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-5335
- OpenAlex
- W2163884583
- Cited by
- 2,012
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 43.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.