How job characteristics relate to need satisfaction and autonomous motivation: implications for work effort Rein De Cooman 1 , Dave Stynen 2,3 , Anja Van den Broeck 4 , Luc Sels 2 , Hans De Witte 5 1 Research Center for Organization Studies, HRM, KU Leuven|Thomas More, Antwerp, Belgium 2 Research Center for Organization Studies, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium 3 Department of Epidemiology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands 4 Human Relations Research Group, KU Leuven|HUB, Brussels, Belgium 5 Research Group Work, Organizational, and Personnel Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Rein De Cooman, KU Leuven| Thomas More, Korte Nieuwstraat 33, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium. E-mail: rein.decooman@kuleuven.be doi: 10.1111/jasp.12143 Abstract To explore the motivational potential of job design, we linked job demands and job resources, as defined in the job demands–resources model, to the motivational process defined in self-determination theory. Specifically, we introduced basic need satisfaction and autonomous motivation as consecutive process variables mediating the relationship between job design and work effort. We tested this model by means of structural equation modeling in a sample of 689 employees. The comparison of several competing models provided support for the hypothesized model. We con- clude that job demands thwart and job resources promote the fulfillment of 3 psy- chological needs. High levels of need satisfaction, in turn, are associated with autonomous motivation and, therefore, with high levels of effort. Employees’ optimal functioning and positive experiences at work are key interests in organizational behavior and human resource management (Warr, 2007). To attract and retain employees and to enhance their well-being and performance in the workplace, employers must design jobs and work environments in line with people’s needs (Grant, Fried, Parker, & Frese, 2010; Morgeson & Campion, 2002). This empirical study contributes to the field by exploring the processes that underlie the motivating potential of job characteristics. Specifically, we supplement the assump- tions of the job demands–resources model (JDR; Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001) with new insights from the strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature (Schuler & Jackson, 1987) in order to describe how job characteristics such as job demands and job resources relate to work effort. We detail the motivational process underlying these relation- ships by relying on self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Gagné & Deci, 2005). We introduce basic psy- chological need satisfaction and autonomous work motiva- tion as process variables mediating the relationship between job characteristics and the effort employees put into their jobs, which represents the behavioral manifestation of work motivation. This study contributes to the literature in three distinctive ways. First, relying on SDT, we clarify the process through which job demands and resources relate to motivational out- comes. In detailing this motivational process, we extend a number of recent studies linking JDR and SDT (Van den Broeck, Vansteenkiste, De Witte, & Lens, 2008) by modeling both basic need satisfaction and autonomous work motiva- tion and by focusing on a behavioral outcome (i.e., work effort), rather than on work-related well-being. As such, the proposed research model tests a critical mechanism that is rarely tested within SDT (Gagné, Senécal, & Koestner, 1997; Richer, Blanchard, & Vallerand, 2002), which is the second contribution of this study.Finally,following the recommenda- tions of Becker and Huselid (2010), we extend JDR with a stra- tegic aspect of job design. Specifically, in addition to the job characteristics often included in the JDR literature, we con- sider strategic impact, adapted from the SHRM literature, as an additional resource. In this study, we develop an integrated theoretical model on work effort by successively discussing job characteristics as antecedents and need satisfaction and autonomous motivation as mediating variables. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 2013, 43, pp. 1342–1352 © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 2013, 43, pp. 1342–1352