Workstyle and overcommitment in relation to neck and upper limb symptoms

Few studies have examined the concepts of workstyle and overcommitment in relation to the occurrence of neck and upper limb symptoms. The aim of this study was to examine whether a high-risk workstyle is a mediator in the relation of work-related exposure (job demands and computer work) and overcommitment to neck and upper limb symptoms. The study participants comprised 3,855 office workers of a European institute. The Sobel test was applied to test the intermediate effects of 4 workstyle dimensions and of the total workstyle score. The results show that most mediated effects were statistically significant, meaning that the workstyle dimensions acted as a mediator in the relation between work-related exposure and symptoms as well as in the relation between overcommitment and symptoms. Given the results with the total workstyle score, 34% of the effect of prolonged computer work, 64% of the effect of job demands, and 84% of the effect of overcommitment was mediated by workstyle. However, due to possible bias in the assessment of workstyle factor and the cross-sectional design of the study, the conclusions should be drawn with care.