AbstractFew quantitative studies in the nonprofit literature have examined job demands' strain‐inducing impact. The classic demand‐control (DC) model predicts a positive main effect for job demands and a negative main effect for job control on job strain, respectively. However, four decades of DC model studies have uncovered modest support for this additive model. As a means of addressing both issues, the present study tested a recently introduced modified additive model using 621 employees from two different types of nonprofit human service agencies located in the city of New York. Two mediational analyses, structural equation modelling and bootstrapping, corroborated goal‐related feedback's intervening role on the control‐strain relationship. Findings not only replicate and extend prior research, but also make a unique contribution to the nonprofit literature. Implications for the stress management of nonprofit human service employees, as well as recommendations for the DC model literature are also discussed.
In comparison to their public and for‐profit counterparts, not‐for‐profit employees report experiencing higher work demands. Despite the harmful effects attributed to this important sector difference, few, if any, empirical studies in the not‐for‐profit literature have investigated how job‐related resources, such as control over one's job, help buffer work demands' strain‐inducing impact. The present study fills this important gap in the extant not‐for‐profit literature by testing a recently introduced nonlinear stressor‐strain model on a sample of 363 employees from two different types of not‐for‐profit human service agencies located in the city of New York. As hypothesized, the nonlinear demand by linear control interaction term was statistically and significantly associated with job strain in the predicted direction. Study data not only challenge the linear nature of Karasek's seminal demand‐control model, but are also the first to uncover this unique finding in a sample of not‐for‐profit human service employees. Implications for practice and theory are also discussed.
Numerous studies have empirically examined the influence of situational determinants on the nature of managerial work. One important determinant that has received little attention is office location, or, more specifically, rural versus urban practice settings. The present study addresses this underexplored area of inquiry by assessing the relative influence of office location on core managerial role competencies. Eighty-one office managers responsible for three types of county-based human service agencies in New York State were surveyed. Public managers responsible for larger, more rural human service offices reported engaging in human resource management role competencies significantly more than their urban colleagues. After controlling for the effects of office size, public managers situated in more rural practice and settings were significantly more likely to engage in the role competencies of mentoring and staff development than were their urban counterparts. Possible explanations for the findings are discussed, along with implications for public management research and practice.