Information and communication technology demands at work : the association with job strain, effort-reward imbalance and self-rated health in different socio-economic strata

PURPOSE: The use of information and communication technology (ICT) is common in modern working life. ICT demands may give rise to experience of work-related stress. Knowledge about ICT demands in relation to other types of work-related stress and to self-rated health is limited. Consequently, the aim of this study was to examine the association between ICT demands and two types of work-related stress [job strain and effort-reward imbalance (ERI)] and to evaluate the association between these work-related stress measures and self-rated health, in general and in different SES strata. METHODS: This study is based on cross-sectional data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health collected in 2014, from 14,873 gainfully employed people. ICT demands, job strain, ERI and self-rated health were analysed as the main measures. Sex, age, SES, lifestyle factors and BMI were used as covariates. RESULTS: ICT demands correlated significantly with the dimensions of the job strain and ERI models, especially with the demands (r = 0.42; p < 0.01) and effort (r = 0.51; p < 0.01) dimensions. ICT demands were associated with suboptimal self-rated health, also after adjustment for age, sex, SES, lifestyle and BMI (OR 1.49 [95 % CI 1.36-1.63]), but job strain (OR 1.93 [95 % CI 1.74-2.14) and ERI (OR 2.15 [95 % CI 1.95-2.35]) showed somewhat stronger associations with suboptimal self-rated health. CONCLUSION: ICT demands are common among people with intermediate and high SES and associated with job strain, ERI and suboptimal self-rated health. ICT demands should thus be acknowledged as a potential stressor of work-related stress in modern working life.

Regional diversity and economic performance

This thesis consists of an introductory chapter and four individual papers. In each paper the relationship between some form of spatial diversity and economic performance is analyzed. Diversity is treated as a potential source of externality effects, mainly in the form of knowledge spillovers. The first paper studies the impact of a broad range of spatial externalities on the productivity of manufacturing plants. While finding positive effects of specialization and competition, there is no support for positive spillovers of either related or unrelated industry diversity. The second paper argues that relatedness should be framed at the level of individuals and consequently should be measured in terms of, for example, education and occupation rather than industry belonging. The results show that educational- and occupational related diversity matter for regional productivity growth, while related industry diversity is positively related to employment growth. The third paper analyzes the importance of neighborhood related diversity, in terms of both industries and education, and internal human capital for firms’ propensity to innovate. The findings support that education and skills are strongly related to firm innovation. Additionally, firms in metropolitan regions are more innovative in neighborhoods with more related diversity in industries, while firms in rural regions seem to benefit more from related diversity in education. In the fourth paper, the location factor of interest is segregation, which may be regarded as inverse diversity. The results show that neighborhood segregation has a negative effect on individual employment. However, it is not the spatial separation of individuals with different backgrounds that causes lower employment but rather the distress of segregated neighborhoods.