Testing the Job Demands-Resources model: evidence from a sample of Italian employees

In the wake of the paradigms of positive psychology and positive organizational behavior, the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) identifies a wide array of significant links between both positive and negative aspects of work environments and individual and organizational outcomes. This study tested the basic assumptions of the JD-R model on a sample of 751 Italian employees. Through the use of structural equation modelling it was found that workload was positively associated with strain, while job resources were positively associated with occupational self-efficacy and work engagement, and negatively with strain; finally, self-efficacy did not mediate the link between job resources and work engagement. Hypothesized relations, consistent with the JD-R model, were confirmed except that occupational self-efficacy was not associated with work engagement. Results were discussed on the basis of the literature and the practical and applied implications.