Abstract
This study aims to explain potentially detrimental effects of job autonomy by introducing the concept of job design demands (JDD); that is, when workers are confronted with jobs that are poorly regulated by the organization, the opportunity to design their own job may become an unavoidable requirement. A cross-sectional study of 417 workers reveals that the link between autonomy and emotional exhaustion is twofold. First, autonomy is associated with reduced emotional exhaustion; second, autonomy is associated with increased JDD, which are positively related to emotional exhaustion. A longitudinal study of 236 workers confirms this result with regard to the effect on cognitive irritation and provides stronger evidence for causality and the direction of the effects. Furthermore, study 2 identifies the specific content of JDD that imposes strain effects on workers. The study results imply that autonomy—despite its prevailing strain-reducing effects—is associated with demands that may impair well-being. Interventions aimed at increasing autonomy should also account for the implied additional effort in terms of JDD.