Personal need for structure and occupational strain: An investigation of structural models and interaction with job complexity

We explored the relation between personal need for structure (PNS), as a global construct and as divided into two components, and occupational strain. Analyses of questionnaire data from two independent samples of Finnish social and health care personnel (n = 3015 and n = 1840) suggest that a high personal desire for structure (DS-component) decreases the risk of psychological strain symptoms, whereas a personal tendency to express negative reactions when one is confronted with a lack of structure (RLS-component) increases this risk. The moderated effect of job context was then tested in a third sample of social and health care personnel (n = 734). The elevated risk of strain in high-RLS employees was found only in high complexity jobs, as indicated by D.O.T. scores (Roos and Treiman, 1980), but not in low complexity jobs. In conclusion, the relationship between PNS and strain may vary across different components of PNS and seems to be dependent on job context.