Resources and Demands in the Workplace: Development and Inital Validation of a Questionnaire

Abstract

The present article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) introduces the ReA questionnaire as an extensive and industry-independent tool to measure demands and resources in organizations. To promote employees’ health and thus to reduce stress-related absenteeism, organizations need appropriate instruments to identify demands and resources to subsequently derive appropriate actions to reduce demands as well as to strengthen resources of employees. Drawing from the job demands-resources (JDR) theory and an extensive literature review on relevant demands and resources, a questionnaire was developed and validated. Factor analytic results of two independent samples with overall 1600 participants support the assumed structure of the instrument. In line with the JDR theory, we further found positive relationships between resources and work engagement as well as demands and emotional exhaustion and a negative relationship between resources and emotional exhaustion. The potential use of the questionnaire for health-prevention and within the scope of psychological risk assessments in organizations is discussed.