The Moderating Role of Self-Determination in the relationship between high job demand, organisational and psychological health outcomes Student’s name: XXX Student’s ID: Tutor’s name: XXX Tutorial date and time: XXX Abstract High job demand iscommonly associated with increased levels of stress, burnout and negative organisational outcomes especially among workers in the agricultural industry. According to the Job Demand Resources (JD-R) model, resources provide a buffer against the negative effects of high job demands. One such resource that shows promise in negating the effects of high job demands is individuals’ selfdetermination. Research has shown that individuals who possess high levels of selfdetermination are less likely to exhibit negative psychological and organisational outcomes. However, while autonomy among the agricultural workforce is highly prized, less is known wherher different elements of self-determination will moderate the relationships between high job demand and organisational outcomes as well as psychological outcomes among high workload agricultural workers. Thus, this study will examine the moderating role of self-determination (e.g., autonomy, competence and relatedness) in the relationship between high job demand, psychological health as well as organisational health outcomes among agricultural workers in Australia. The agriculture industry is characterised by an autonomous working environment. Despite this, significant job stressors such as high workload pervade the industry due to the requirement to tend to animals and crops at various hours of the day and night (Australian Safety and Compensation Council, 2006). Consequently, many agriculture workers suffered high levels of stress and burnout. According to the Job-Demand Resources (JD-R) model, high job demands include any psychological, organisational, social and physical aspects of a job that require sustained physical and psychological effort (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). For instance, high workload has been cited as a job demand that incurs significant psychological and organisational (Schaufeli, & Bakker, 2004) costs, such as stress and burnout (Bakker, Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005). Research has also found that excessive workload can lend itself to low levels of effective work behaviours such as lack of helpful behaviours towards colleagues (Eatough, Chang, Miloslavic, & Johnson, 2011). Stress is a physiological and psychological arousal that causes significant strain on employees (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). The JD-R model posits that depletion of psychological and physical resources results in occupational stress when demands exceed an individual’s resource to deal with those demands (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Similarly, Folkman and Lazarus (1984) propose that stress occurs when an individual perceives environmental stressors as threatening and fails to believe they have the resources to cope. Stress and .

1. The Moderating Role of Self-Determination in the relationship
between high job
demand, organisational and psychological health outcomes
Student’s name: XXX
Student’s ID:
Tutor’s name: XXX
Tutorial date and time: XXX
Abstract
High job demand iscommonly associated with increased levels
of stress, burnout and negative organisational outcomes
especially among workers in the agricultural industry.
According to the Job Demand Resources (JD-R) model,
resources provide a buffer against the negative effects of high
job demands. One such resource that shows promise in negating

2. the effects of high job demands is individuals’
selfdetermination. Research has shown that individuals who
possess high levels of selfdetermination are less likely to
exhibit negative psychological and organisational outcomes.
However, while autonomy among the agricultural workforce is
highly prized, less is known wherher different elements of self-
determination will moderate the relationships between high job
demand and organisational outcomes as well as psychological
outcomes among high workload agricultural workers. Thus, this
study will examine the moderating role of self-determination
(e.g., autonomy, competence and relatedness) in the relationship
between high job demand, psychological health as well as
organisational health outcomes among agricultural workers in
Australia.
The agriculture industry is characterised by an autonomous
working environment. Despite this, significant job stressors
such as high workload pervade the industry due to the
requirement to tend to animals and crops at various hours of the
day and night (Australian Safety and Compensation Council,
2006). Consequently, many agriculture workers suffered high
levels of stress and burnout. According to the Job-Demand
Resources (JD-R) model, high job demands include any
psychological, organisational, social and physical aspects of a
job that require sustained physical and psychological effort
(Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). For
instance, high workload has been cited as a job demand that
incurs significant psychological and organisational (Schaufeli,

3. & Bakker, 2004) costs, such as stress and burnout (Bakker,
Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005). Research has also found that
excessive workload can lend itself to low levels of effective
work behaviours such as lack of helpful behaviours towards
colleagues (Eatough, Chang, Miloslavic, & Johnson, 2011).
Stress is a physiological and psychological arousal that causes
significant strain on employees (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). The
JD-R model posits that depletion of psychological and physical
resources results in occupational stress when demands exceed
an individual’s resource to deal with those demands (Bakker &
Demerouti, 2007). Similarly, Folkman and Lazarus (1984)
propose that stress occurs when an individual perceives
environmental stressors as threatening and fails to believe they
have the resources to cope. Stress and high job demand is also
closely associated with burnout (Demerouti, Bakker,
Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). Burnout is defined as the
emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal
accomplishment an individual feels when employed in work
(Malasch,
1981). Similar to stress, burnout has been typically found in
environments where job demands are excessive or unfavourable
to employees (Bakker, Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005). Finally,
high job demands have been found to negatively influence
behaviours and extra-role activities that employees engage in
while at work (Cropanzano, Byrne & Rupp, 2003).
Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) refers to the
voluntary behaviours employees engage in which are not
recognised by formal rewards structures (Podsakoff, Whiting, &
Blume, 2009). According to Cropanzano, Byrne and Rupp
(2003), when job demands are excessive, individuals are less
likely to engage in pro-social and voluntary behaviours due to
time restrictions and emotional exhaustion. As agricultural life
requires individuals to live in intimate communities for long
periods of time, it is envisaged that OCB will be essential for
promoting psychological wellbeing, social cohesion and
organisational effectiveness.

4. While the JD-R model contends that job demands contribute to
negative psychological and organisational outcomes, some
resources have been found to moderate the impact of excessive
job demands (Van den Broeck, Vansteenkiste, De Witte, &
Lens, 2008). One such motivational resource shown to buffer
the effect of high work demands is the perceived fulfillment of
basic psychological needs, as defined by self-determination
theory (Fernet, Guay, & Senécal, 2004). Selfdetermination
theory (SDT) posits that individuals have three distinct
psychological needs, namely autonomy, competence and
relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Autonomy refers to the volitional experience based on one’s
self-directed actions, competence refers to an individual’s belief
in attaining goals from action, and relatedness refers to the
degree of connectedness one feels with others. According to
SDT, psychological resources energize and direct behaviour
towards goal attainment without the need for external
reinforcers (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Studies in the agriculture industry have highlighted the
importance of selfdetermination to workers (Australian Safety
and Compensation Council, 2006). For example, Dury and
Lower (2004) highlighted the importance of a culture of
“rugged individualism” among agriculture workers where
qualities of self-reliance are highly prized. As such, this study
will examine how employees’ self- determination (as measured
by levels of autonomy, competence and relatedness) will
moderate the relationship between high job demand and
psychological health outcomes (e.g., stress and burnout) as well
as between high job demand and oganisational citizenship
behaviour among agricultural workers. As individuals working
in Agriculture have been found to be vulnerable to these
negative outcomes (Botha & White, 2013), it is predicted that
high job demands will be associated with high levels of stress
and burnout, but low levels of organisational citizenship
behaviour. However, worker’s levels of self-determinations
should moderate this relationship.

5. H1: High job demand is positively associated with stress and
burnout but negatively associated with OCB
H2: Self-determination will moderate the relationship between
high job demand and stress, burnout and OCB. Specifically,
workers with high levels of self-determination (as measured by
autonomy, competence or relatedness) will be less impacted by
high job demand and suffered less stress and burnout than
workers’ with low levels of self-determination. Similarly,
workers with high levels of self-determination (as measured by
autonomy, competence or relatedness) will engage in more OCB
than workers with low levels of selfdetermination.
Job Demand
Autonomy,
Competence,
Relatedness
(
SDT
)
Stress
Burnout

6. OCB
Discussion
It is anticipated that this study will illustrate a buffering effect
of selfdetermination on all the criterion variables when job
demands are high. Workers who perceive to have autonomy over
their job, are connected closely with others (relatedness),
believe they are competent to complete tasks, will be more
committed to, and engage in extra-role activities within the
organisation. Due to increased perception of autonomy,
relatedness and competence, those high in self-determination
will report less stress compared to those who are low in these
self-determination elements. Additionally, the greater perceived
fulfilment of these psychological needs will result in a
reduction of symptoms of burnout, as they are less likely to
withdraw from the stresses and strains of everyday work due to
their intrinsically driven motivation.
References
Australian Safety and Compensation Council (2006). Beyond
Common Sense: A report on the barriers to adoption of safety in
the agriculture industry. Retrieved from
http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/about/Publicati
ons/Documents/
107/BeyondCommonSense_Report_Barriers_AdoptionOfSafety_
AgricultureInd ustry_2006_ArchivePDF.pdf
Bakker, A., Demerouti, E., & Euwema, M. (2005). Job
Resources Buffer the Impact of Job Demands on Burnout.
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10(2),
170-180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.10.2.170

7. Botha, N. & White, T. (2013). Distress and burnout among NZ
dairy farmers: Research findings and policy recommendations.
Extension Farming Systens Journal, 9(1).
Caplan, R., Cobb, S., French, J., Van Harrison, R., & Pinneau,
S. (1980). Job demands and worker health (1st ed.). Cincinnati,
Ohio: NIOSH.
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A Global
Measure of Perceived Stress. Journal Of Health And Social
Behavior, 24(4), 385. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2136404
Cropanzano, R., Rupp, D., & Byrne, Z. (2003). The relationship
of emotional exhaustion to work attitudes, job performance, and
organizational citizenship behaviors. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 88(1), 160-169. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-
9010.88.1.160
Demerouti, E., Bakker, A., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W.
(2001). The job demandsresources model of burnout. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499-512.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.86.3.499
Fernet, C., Guay, F., & Senécal, C. (2004). Adjusting to job
demands: The role of work self-determination and job control in
predicting burnout. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 39-
56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s00018791(03)00098-8
Firth-Cozens, J. & Payne, R. (1999). Stress in health
professionals (1st ed., pp. 1831). Chichester [etc.]: Wiley.
Gunn, K., Kettler, L., Skaczkowski, G., & Turnbull, D. (2012).
Farmers’ stress and coping in a time of drought. Rural And
Remote Health, 12(2071).
Karasek, R. (1979). Job Demands, Job Decision Latitude, and
Mental Strain: Implications for Job Redesign. Administrative
Science Quarterly, 24(2), 285.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2392498
Organ, D., Podsakoff, P., & MacKenzie, S. (2006).
Organizational citizenship behavior (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks:
SAGE Publications.
Podsakoff, P., MacKenzie, S., Moorman, R., & Fetter, R.
(1990). Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on

8. followers' trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational
citizenship behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly, 1(2), 107-142.
doi:10.1016/1048-9843(90)90009-7
Podsakoff, N., Whiting, S., Podsakoff, P., & Blume, B. (2009).
Individual- and organizational-level consequences of
organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal
Oo Applied Psychology, 94(1), 122-141.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0013079
Ryan, R. & Deci, E. (2000). Self-determination theory and the
facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and
well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1),
68-78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.55.1.68
Schaufeli, W. & Bakker, A. (2004). Job demands, job resources,
and their relationship with burnout and engagement: a multi-
sample study. Journal Of Organizational
Behavior, 25(3), 293-315. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/job.248
Van Den Broeck, A., Vansteenkiste, M., Witte, H., Soenens, B.,
& Lens, W. (2010). Capturing autonomy, competence, and
relatedness at work: Construction and initial validation of the
Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction scale. Journal of
Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(4), 981-1002.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/096317909x481382

9. SELF-DETERMINATION AND JOB DEMANDS 2
SELF-DETERMINATION AND JOB DEMANDS 2
Literature Review-Write a critical Literature Review report
.Write a literature review report of up to 1500 maximum words
(not including title page, abstract, references, notes, figures and
the report should include: Title page, abstract (of no more than
150 words), table of contents (optional), introduction, body,
conclusion, and references. Use numbered headings (optional)
and subheadings (optional). Include page numbers in the footer
of the report. Text should be in Times New Roman, 12pt,
double-
conform to the American Psychological Association (APA) or
Harvard style referencing style.
ingronally