The subjective perception of motivational job demands and its effects on work engagement and employee well-being

Abstract

Work environments have changed over the past thirty years due to the introduction of new ways of working. Employees have gained more autonomy and freedom. Moreover, result-focused work has become the norm, not time spent on the job. These changes have led to a new job demand, the motivational job demand. With these demands, an employee decides for his own which goals he wants to achieve, how hard he has to work at a certain task and how much time he dedicates to this task. Individual employees can perceive these motivational job demands differently, either as a challenge or a hindrance. A challenge perception is associated with learning and achieving ones goals, whereas a hindrance perception obstructs personal growth and goal attainment. We expected that the subjective perception of the motivational job demands would moderate the relationship between motivational job demands and certain work-related outcomes, namely work engagement and employee well-being. Self-assessment questionnaires were used to measure the variables. In total, 317 people participated in this study. A hierarchical regression was used to analyze the data. We found that motivational job demands have a direct, positive effect on work engagement. Perceiving the motivational job demands as challenging also had a positive main effect on work engagement. No moderating effects for subjective perception were found for either outcomes. Further research into the domains of subjective perception and motivational demands could enhance the foundation of research in this area, and could ultimately lead to the creation of customized work environments for employees.