The interplay of job demands, job resources and cognitive outcomes in informatics

Abstract The present study investigates the issue of match between job demands and job resources in the prediction of employees' cognitive well‐being. Job demands and job resources, as well as job‐related strains (and concepts concerned with positive well‐being), are not one‐dimensional concepts. At a very basic level they comprise physical, cognitive and/or emotional components. The triple match principle proposes that the strongest, interactive relationships between job demands and job resources are observed when job demands, job resources and strains are based on qualitatively identical dimensions. In this study, we specifically hypothesize that cognitive job resources are most likely to moderate the relationship between cognitive job demands and cognitive outcomes. Two measures of cognitive well‐being are included: learning motivation and professional efficacy. Using a web‐based questionnaire, data were collected in a sample of 207 informatics. Results partially confirm our hypotheses both in terms of main and in terms of interaction effects. Informatics with high cognitive job demands have a higher feeling of competence than informatics with low cognitive job demands. This effect is stronger when matching high cognitive job resources are available. These findings are in line with earlier research on the interaction effects in the prediction of employees' cognitive well‐being at work. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.