Job design predictors of stress in automated offices

The effects of job control, job content, demands and career/future concerns on stress outcomes were tested in a population of video display terminal (VDT) users that were categorized as clericals, managers/supervisors and professionals. It was found that career/future concerns were consistent contributors to stress outcomes across job categories, but job control - which was hypothesized as a central stressor - did not contribute to the stress outcomes. Analyses performed within each of the three job categories demonstrated that different job elements contributed to the stress outcomes. A proposed model that denned job control as the central job element through which other job features (i.e. job content, demands and career/future concerns) produced stress outcomes was verified in only one of the four analyses for mood disturbances among professional VDT users.