Risk patterns of psychosocial job characteristics associated with exhaustion: Combining configurational and variable-centered approaches.

Abstract

Theoretical models on psychosocial job characteristics have proposed the interaction of demands and resources in shaping employee health, yet empirical evidence for their interplay in the development of impaired well-being using statistical approaches modeling interaction effects remains inconsistent. We propose fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, a configurational approach, as an alternative to identify combinations of job characteristics that may be associated with impaired well-being outcomes such as exhaustion. Using a split-sample design, we analyzed data from 9,358 employees nested in 980 teams across 32 organizations. Eight job characteristics (five demands and three resources) were examined through fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis in one subsample and validated in the second using three-level generalized linear mixed models. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis yielded five configurations that were sufficient for the presence of exhaustion, three of which remained robust in sensitivity tests, as well as two protective configurations characterized by a complex pattern of multiple high resources and low demands. Multilevel validation analyses confirmed the estimation validity of all three robust risk configurations, with graded associations across partial configuration membership. Two of the three configurations demonstrated additional explanatory value beyond the individual job characteristics. These findings provide evidence for synergistic associations of specific demand-resource combinations. Practically, results highlight the need for configuration-sensitive risk assessments and interventions that address unfavorable constellations of job characteristics rather than isolated conditions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).