Job control is a person's ability to influence what happens in their work environment, in particular to influence matters that are relevant to their personal goals. Job control may include control over work tasks, control over the work pace and physical movement, control over the social and technical environment, and freedom from supervision.
Workplace autonomy has been seen as a specialized form of the more general concept of control.[1]Workplace autonomy is the freedom of a person to determine what he or she does at work, and how.
A meta-analysis of 1986 found an association of high levels of perceived control with "high levels of job satisfaction […], commitment, involvement, performance and motivation, and low levels of physical symptoms, emotional distress, role stress, absenteeism, intent to turnover, and turnover".[5] Similarly, within the job demands–resources model it is assumed that resources such as job control counterbalance job strain and to contribute to motivation. In support of this approach, results of a 2003 study suggest that "as job demands increase, high job control is needed to limit fatigue, whereas either high job control or high job social support is needed to enhance intrinsic work motivation".[6]
^van Yperen, Nico W.; Hagedoorn, Mariët (2003). "Do high job demands increase intrinsic motivation or fatigue or both? The role of job control and social support". Academy of Management Journal. 46 (3): 339–348. CiteSeerX10.1.1.524.6182. doi:10.2307/30040627. JSTOR30040627.
^Hatinen, M.; Kinnunen, U.; Pekkonen, M.; Kalimo, R. (2007). "Comparing two burnout interventions: Perceived job control mediates decreases in burnout". International Journal of Stress Management. 14 (3): 227–248. doi:10.1037/1072-5245.14.3.227.
