FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENTS: STRESS-BUFFERING OR STRESS-EXACERBATION?

摘要

Job control is traditionally considered a buffer against stress. To find out if there is any evidenceto support this idea, I compared the perceived job stress levels among school principalsin the public sector within the Gothenburg region with their degree of job control, more specifically,the possibilities to flexible work arrangements they experienced that their job provide.The data collected in the study is based on the principals’ answers to a questionnaire which Icreated for this study. This thesis aim to find out if the school principals who perceived thatthey had high levels of flexible work arrangements, (i.e. arrangements that allows an employeeto alter the time and/or place when, where and how work is conducted on a regular basis),had lower levels of work related stress than the school principals that experienced that theirwork arrangements was controlled to a higher degree and lacking flexible work structures. Inthe study the collected data is analysed to see if it is possible to find evidence for or againstthe traditional view of personal control as a buffer against stress, and examine if flexible workarrangement may sometimes instead function as a stress exacerbation for the employees.The results presented in this thesis suggest that a perceived flexibility regarding work arrangementin fact has a positive correlation with the well-being of employees by making theemployees’ experienced stress levels slightly lower. The results in this thesis provide evidencefor participants with higher degree of flexibility in their work arrangement reported lessstress than workers who perceived a lower level of job control in deciding work location,work time, and work related tasks. The results presented in this thesis therefore support thetraditional view of flexible work arrangement functioning as a buffer against stress.