body bg

Inform-Banner

Employee Experiences of Effort, Reward and Change: Themes from a Regional Australian Energy Company

  • Year: 2007
  • Author: Murphy, Fiona; Patrick, Kent
  • Journal Name: Rural Society
  • Journal Number: Vol. 17, No. 2
  • Country: Australia

This qualitative study explored the experiences of employees exposed to extensive change within a regionally-based, state-owned corporation in relation to the Effort-Reward Imbalance at Work (ERI) model, a major theory for explaining organisational characteristics and employee health and wellbeing. With its focus on status control, the ERI model is particularly relevant for global economies characterised by rapid change, reduced job security, increased competition, mergers and technological advances. Five themes emerged from the data: the experience of change; the contractual relationship; community and connection; aspirations and achievement; and recognition and respect. Experiences not fully explained by the ERI model were internal versus external equity, social support, and loyalty and commitment. The participants' discourse extended beyond the interpersonal and organisational domain to take into account the rural and regional communities in which they live. This finding reinforced the importance of understanding the context and meaning assigned by a sample before applying the conventional assumptions of work - health models.

Related Items

Therapeutic landscapes: Understanding migration to Australian regional and rural communities

This article explores the connections between therapeutic landscapes, social capital and personal...

Accessibility of Essential Services in Urban and Regional Australia

The extent to which governments have an obligation to provide a core set of essential services to...

Changing patterns of migration to Australia's Northern Territory: Evidence of new forms of escalator migration to frontier regions?

Building on Fielding's idea of escalator regions as places where young people migrate (often...

Share this with your friends

Footer Logo

Contact Us

Level 2, 53 Blackall Street
Barton ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA
Telephone: 02 6260 3733
or email us