Well-Being of Public Servants Under Pressure: The Roles of Job Demands and Personality Traits in the Health-Impairment Process

The health-impairment process from job demands to lower well-being among public servants is still understudied. This article therefore uses the Job Demands-Resources model and answers the following question: What is the relationship between sector-specific job demands and public servants' work-related well-being, and which of the Big Five personality traits ensure that either the hindering effect of these demands is lowered or the challenging effect enlarged? Four public sector specific demands are studied including organizational restructurings, technological innovations, aggression from citizens, and integrity pressure. The analysis of two representative subsamples of the Dutch public sector show that all job demands negatively relate to well-being. Organizational restructurings is the strongest hindering job demand, while technological innovations is the least hindering demand. Moreover, some personality traits turned out to be demands instead of resources, opening new doors for future research in the health-impairment process of public servants.

Automated summary

"The health-impairment process from job demands to lower well-being among public servants is not thoroughly researched. This article utilizes the Job Demands-Resources model to investigate the relationship between sector-specific job demands and public servants' work-related well-being, as well as which of the Big Five personality traits mitigate the hindering effect or amplify the challenging effect. The analysis of two representative subsamples from the Dutch public sector reveals that all job demands have a negative impact on well-being, with organizational restructurings being the most hindering demand and technological innovations being the least hindering. Additionally, some personality traits are found to be demands rather than resources, highlighting new avenues for future research on the health-impairment process of public servants."