engleski

Job strain and work-related wellbeing among highly educated professionals: Differences between public and private sector employees

The purpose of the study was to examine the role of job strain in predicting work-related well- being among young highly educated professionals employed in the private and public sector in Croatia. Self- reported measures of job demands and decision latitude, job satisfaction, perceived employability and positive psychological capital were applied on comparative samples of highly educated professionals employed in private (N=174) and public (N=234) sector organizations. According to the Job Demand-Control model, differences between active, low strain, passive or high strain jobs were tested. Professionals who perceived their jobs as active or low strain jobs in the private sector showed a higher level of positive psychological capital ; both groups showed a higher level of job satisfaction as a function of the job strain but the effect was stronger among professionals in the private sector. Job demands were crucial for the group differences in the perceived employability. The convenient sample and cross- sectional methodology limit the interpretations of the findings, especially their generalizability, as well as the possibility of causal inferences about the tested relationships. The study identifies different patterns of the relations of job demands and control to the job satisfaction, positive psychological capital and perceived employability and indicates the differences between private and public sector employees. The study contributes to our understanding of the differences in work motivation between the public and private sectors with some valuable insights on validity of the Job Demand Control model in predicting various positive outcomes.

job strain ; work-related well-being ; public sector ; private sector

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