Testing the demand-control-support model among health-care professionals: A structural equation model

Abstract

This paper reports a further empirical validation of the Demand-Control-Support Model (DCS model), which was developed by Johnson and colleagues (1988, 1989). Data were collected from a heterogeneous group of health-care professionals (nurses and nurses' aides; n = 249). Three major refinements were made to the validation of the DCS Model. First, all relationships in the model were estimated simultaneously by means of covariance structure modelling (LISREL 8). Second, the control dimension was refined substantially, using a psychometrically more sound assessment of the workers' autonomy. Third, the model was applied to the work of health-care professionals. The data did not confirm the assumption that both job strain and motivation are multiplicative functions of job demands, autonomy and social support. First, the results suggested that high levels of autonomy attenuate the increase of emotional exhaustion due to job demands. These results partially supported Karasek's Job Demand-Control Model (Karasek 1979). Second, high levels of social support proved to attenuate the increase of emotional exhaustion due to autonomy. Finally, the main effect of autonomy on job challenge implied that an increase in autonomy is accompanied by an increase in job challenge (and, consequently, job involvement). In addition, low job demands and a high amount of work-related support seem to reduce feelings of exhaustion and, consequently, health complaints.     

Luanda – Holanda: Irregular Migration from Angola to the Netherlands

Against the backdrop of push‐pull and social network theories on migration and criminological theory on human smuggling, this article tries to answer the questions of why and how Angolan asylum‐seekers migrated to the Netherlands since the end of the 1990s. The study shows that the migrants can be described as opportunity seeking migrants, rather than survival migrants. Most migrants made no use of typical human smugglers during their travel. They rather used assistance from their social network and made use of the services of middlemen, called esquemas, on an ad‐hoc basis. In this article it is argued that “archetypal” large smuggling organisations in Angola have not evolved because of the existence of these highly informal networks. Support is found that both push‐pull and social network theories can contribute to explaining irregular, asylum migration.     

Collective Labor Supply and Child Care Expenditures: Theory and Application

In this study we examine the collective labor supply choices of dual-earner parents and take into account child care expenditures. For this purpose we use data of the Flemish Families and Care Survey (FFCS, 2004–2005). The main findings are, firstly, that the supply of paid labor is hardly affected by changes in the prices of child care services. Secondly, child care price effects on the individual labor supplies are much smaller than the wage effects. Thirdly, we find that additional earnings due to an increase in household non-labor income minus the child care expenditures are mainly transferred to the wife.     

Institutional and Demographic Explanations of Women's Employment in 18 OECD Countries, 1975–1999

This study combined demographic and institutional explanations of women's employment, describing and explaining the degree to which mothers in industrialized societies are less likely to be employed than women without children. A large number of cross‐sectional surveys were pooled, covering 18 Organisation for Economic Co‐Operation and Development countries, 192,484 observations, and 305 country‐years between 1975 and 1999. These data were merged with measures of institutional context and analyzed with multilevel logistic regression. The results indicate that, over time, women were increasingly likely to combine motherhood and employment in many, but not all, countries. Both mothers and women without children were more likely to be employed in societies with a large service sector and low unemployment. The employment of women without children was generally unaffected by family policies. Mothers were more likely to be employed in societies with extensive reconciliation policies and limited family allowances.     

Antagonists in Mutual Antipathies: A Person‐Oriented Approach

This study investigated the heterogeneity of mutual antipathy relationships. Separate cluster analyses of peer interactions of early adolescents (mean age 11 years) and adolescents (mean age of 14) yielded 3 types of individuals in each age group, namely Prosocial, Antisocial, and Withdrawn. Prevalence analysis of the 6 possible combinations of types of individuals constituting mutual antipathy dyads yielded antipathy dyad types. The majority of these dyads consisted of a combination of 2 dissimilar types of individuals. Implications of the high prevalence of the Antisocial–Withdrawn antipathy dyad type are discussed.     

A Dynamic Approach to the Determinants of Immigrants’ Language Proficiency: The United States, 1980–20001

This article proposes a dynamic perspective on immigrants’ language proficiency. Hypotheses are formulated about immigrants’ language skills at arrival and about the speed with which immigrants learn the language thereafter. It pools data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 U.S. Censuses, and uses a synthetic cohort design to analyze the language skills of immigrants within the first 20 years after migration. Multilevel models show that higher educated immigrants arrive with better language skills and learn the language quicker. Group size has a double‐negative effect: it attracts less skilled immigrants, and it hampers language learning. These and other determinants are discussed in light of current research on immigrants’ second‐language proficiency.     

The process of value realization in asymmetric new venture development alliances: Governing the transition from exploration to exploitation

Based on a case study of three asymmetric new venture development (ANVD) alliances, we examine the governance of transitions from exploration to exploitation. We propose that role deficiencies, technological asymmetry, and the presence of a separate venture unit at established firms constitute important initial conditions influencing value realization in ANVD alliances. We further show that role-specific investments act as more appropriate mechanisms than contractual incentives to govern transitions from exploration to exploitation. Jointly, these findings provide new insights into the impact of structural and relational governance mechanisms on value creation in interfirm relationships.     

Iterative regularisation in nonparametric instrumental regression

This paper considers the nonparametric regression model with an additive error that is correlated with the explanatory variables. Motivated by empirical studies in epidemiology and economics, it also supposes that valid instrumental variables are observed. However, the estimation of a nonparametric regression function by instrumental variables is an ill-posed linear inverse problem with an unknown but estimable operator. We provide a new estimator of the regression function that is based on projection onto finite dimensional spaces and that includes an iterative regularisation method (the Landweber–Fridman method). The optimal number of iterations and the convergence of the mean square error of the resulting estimator are derived under both strong and weak source conditions. A Monte Carlo exercise shows the impact of some parameters on the estimator and concludes on the reasonable finite sample performance of the new estimator.