ABSTRACT

This study set out to explore the effects of accumulating work experience on the association between job decision latitude and its interaction with job demands and work engagement. Our ten-year longitudinal study followed 333 junior physicians in postgraduate training at baseline. We used self-report measures in four assessment waves, and we conducted path analyses to investigate linear and curvilinear regression effects. Results show that high job decision latitude was associated with high work engagement at all levels of work experience, with strongest associations at baseline and after ten years. Only for novices did job decision latitude buffer the negative association between job demands and work engagement. At the stage of high work experience, low levels of job decision latitude were weakly associated with work engagement, whereas with higher levels of job decision latitude, the positive association seemed to strengthen. Our findings indicate that job decision latitude is a key job resource at all stages of work experience, with stronger effects among novices and experts. Organisations’ work design efforts should include job decision latitude to promote work engagement across employees’ different career stages, with consideration to job entrants and experts in order to tailor specific work design solutions.

摘要

这项研究旨在探索积累工作经验对工作决策纬度及其与工作需求和工作参与之间的关系的影响。我们进行了为期十年的纵向研究，在基线时对333名初级医师进行了研究生培训。我们在四个评估波中使用了自报告度量，并进行了路径分析以研究线性和曲线回归效应。结果表明，在所有工作经验水平上，较高的工作决策自由度都与较高的工作投入相关联，在基线和十年后相关性最强。只有对于新手来说，工作决定的纬度才能缓冲工作需求和工作投入之间的负相关关系。在工作经验丰富的阶段，低水平的工作决策纬度与工作投入之间的联系较弱，而随着工作决策自由度的提高，积极的联系似乎有所增强。我们的发现表明，工作决定自由度是工作经验各个阶段的关键工作资源，对新手和专家的影响更大。组织的工作设计工作应包括工作决策自由度，以促进员工不同职业阶段的工作投入，并考虑到工作进入者和专家，以量身定制具体的工作设计解决方案。