Structural determinants of the psychosocial work environment: introducing technology in the work stress framework

Abstract

To extend current models of psychosocial work stress research into organizational structure, technology is introduced. An exploratory model is developed combining research from ergonomics, epidemiology, and organizational science. It is hypothesized that technology influences a worker's health by structuring the job, and the relationship between the job and a worker's health is mediated by attitudes at work. To test the model, data are used from a 1978 NIOSH survey of postal workers sorting mail (N= 4903). Path analysis shows technology is indirectly associated with job satisfaction and psychosomatic symptoms by how it structured the job. A machine-paced technological system of work is associated with greater job demands, less control in the job, and less co-worker support but not with supervisor support. The implications of this model for prevention strategies at the workplace are discussed suggesting that influencing supervisor support is the most effective way to affect a person's job satisfaction and level of psychosomatic symptomology.