Work Characteristics and Work Performance of Knowledge Workers: What Goes Hand in Hand?

The aim of the paper was to investigate the interplay among a wide range of work characteristics and knowledge workers’ performance outcomes. Specifically, we examined the nature of relationships between various task-, knowledge- and social characteristics of work design and both task and contextual performance. Using an adapted Work Design Questionnaire and applying PLS-SEM modelling technique, we analysed cross-sectional and cross-occupational sample of 512 Croatian knowledge workers from 48 organizations. Our findings confirmed the existence and importance of interaction between work characteristics and work outcomes. However, the results suggest that only knowledge characteristics of work design exhibit a significant effect on both distinct dimensions of work behaviour, while task and social characteristics showed different effects on task and contextual performance, respectively.