The Role of Effort–Reward Imbalance for Reservists on a Military Deployment

Abstract

The present study extended the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) model ( Siegrist, 1996b Siegrist, J. 1996b. “Soziale Krisen und Gesundheit [Social crises and health]”. In Gesundheitspsychologie [Health psychology] Edited by: Krohne, H. W. , Schmidt, L. , Netter, P. and Schwarzer, R. Vol. 5, Göttingen, , Germany: Hogrefe. [Google Scholar] ), first by differentiating between separate reward components, second by including intrinsic reward, and third by additionally predicting a non-health outcome (i.e., turnover intention) in a military context. Regression analyses of 789 reservists found financial and esteem reward to moderate the impact of extrinsic effort on depressive symptoms, whereas only financial reward moderated the effort turnover intentions relationship. Results supported the usefulness of the extended ERI model in the military context. Relevant areas for future research on the military effort–reward perspective are discussed.