Abstract
Job demands and coping behaviour: the moderating role of professional self-efficacy. Coping behaviour is mainly considered in the stress research as a moderator variable between job demands and negative or positive outcomes (i.e. anxiety, satisfaction). However, from the Social Cognitive Theory, self-efficacy beliefs play a moderating role between stressors or job demands and coping behaviours. In that sense, in stressful job settings people with high self-efficacy will behave in a more proactive way using problem centred coping, that people with low self-efficacy. This study examines the moderating role of self-efficacy between job demands (i.e., quantitative overload and role conflict) and coping behaviour (i.e. information seeking, problem centred and 'wait y see' coping strategies). Hierarchical regression analysis in a sample of 625 Spanish workers from different occupational fields provides strong evidence for the main assumption of this study, i.e., the moderating role of self-efficacy between job demands and problem centred coping. A three- way interaction effect among overload X role conflict X self-efficacy was found and so, people with high levels of self-efficacy when job demands are high show more problem centred coping than people with low self-efficacy. In a way, problem centred coping is more used when job demands and self-efficacy are high. In this sense, these results show empirical evidence about the active pole of the Job Demands-Control Model of Karasek, when 'control' is changed by 'self-efficacy' beliefs.
