Influence of job demands, job control and social support on information systems professionals' psychological well-being

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the predictive capabilities of the job strain model (JSM) on information systems (IS) professionals. Design/methodology/approach – The JSM is tested by investigating whether perceived work demands, job control and social support can predict IS employee's psychological well-being in terms of worker health and job satisfaction. A questionnaire survey, which contained valid and reliable scales for the aforementioned constructs, was completed by 89 respondents. Findings – The results indicate that the JSM can be used to significantly predict employee's psychological well-being in terms of worker health and job satisfaction among the IS professionals sampled in the UK. Contrary to previous research, however, non-work related support was found to be more significant than work support in alleviating psychological strain. Research limitations/implications – The findings presented are not generalisable to the wider population of IS professionals in the UK due the small sample size. Thus, research involving additional samples is needed to ensure the appropriate generalisation of the results.While there have been limited studies that have examined occupational stress among IS professionals, it is anticipated that further studies that are conducted using the JSM will be able to determine the boundaries of generalisability. Originality/value – The model was found to significantly predict employee's psychological well-being in terms of worker health and job satisfaction among the IS professionals sampled in the UK. For the specific sample, the JSM captured the key characteristics that contributed to the job strain that they experienced. With the exception of non-work related social support, the results support previous studies that examined the predictive capacity of the JSM.