When Work Feels Wrong: The Importance of Job Demands and Resources for Anti-Work Attitudes

Anti-work attitudes, characterized by a generalized rejection of work as a source of personal or societal worth, have gained increasing attention in recent years, particularly in the wake of shifting labor market conditions and growing online discourse. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework, this preregistered study ( N = 2240) examined how specific job demands (e.g., job insecurity, illegitimate tasks, work-life conflict) and job resources (social community, social capital) relate to anti-work orientation among Swedish employees. Structural equation modeling revealed that job insecurity, lack of work-life balance, and illegitimate work tasks were significantly associated with stronger anti-work orientation, whereas job resources showed no significant relationships with anti-work orientation. Job insecurity and perceived lack of job quality further showed indirect associations with anti-work attitudes through frustration; however, there were no indirect associations through well-being. These findings suggest that anti-work attitudes are closely related to experiences of strain and perceived illegitimacy in the workplace, rather than being purely ideological, and highlight the importance of further examining the impact of job conditions on anti-work sentiments.