The Role of Job Demands and Job Resources on Academicians’ Emotional Wellbeing: Mediated by Organizational Identification

• Main Authors: Quratulain, Memon, Dr. Irma Yazreen Binti, Md Yusoff, Dr. Kartinah Binti, Ayupp
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 2024
• Subjects: B Philosophy (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/46427/3/Thesis%20PhD_Quratulain%20Memon.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/46427/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

The emotional well-being of employees significantly influences an organization's overall effectiveness, impacting productivity, job satisfaction, collaboration, innovation, and leadership efficacy. Recent studies have identified a strong correlation between emotional well-being, reduced emotional exhaustion, and higher levels of flourishing. This leads to improved performance and lower turnover rates).The emotional well-being of employees is primarily affected by the volatile working environment. In economically volatile developing countries such as Pakistan, the combination of increased job demands, and a lack of sufficient resources substantially impacts the well-being of employees. The economy's volatility contributes to a demanding work environment, exacerbating the burden on employees. Scholars highlight that heightened demands can lead to stress and burnout among employees, mainly when there is a discrepancy between the demands imposed on them and the resources at their disposal to fulfill job demands.Furthermore, it is also reported that insufficient financial, technological, or human resources exacerbate the strain on employees, making it difficult for them to perform effectively. Therefore, this study offers valuable insights into how the working environment, defined by job demands and resources, impacts employees' emotional well-being. Furthermore, it explores the psychological process through which job demands and resources impact the emotional well-being of employees, based on the principles of social identity theory (SIT) and job demands-resources (JD-R). The primary aim of this study is to examine how job demands, and job resources affect the emotional well-being of academicians in Pakistan, with organizational identification serving as a mediator in this relationship.The research objective was accomplished by administering a survey to academicians throughout Pakistan, which resulted in 750 responses for further analysis. The collected data was then analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in Smart PLS4.0 and SPSS 23.0 to answer the research questions in this study.The study found a significant direct hypothesized relationship between job demands (workload and emotional pressure) and emotional exhaustion and flourishing. Furthermore, a direct relationship between all three job resources (job autonomy, social support, and performance feedback) and flourishing was discovered; however, only two job resources, job autonomy and social support, were found to predict emotional exhaustion.Furthermore, organizational identification significantly predicted academic flourishing but not emotional exhaustion.Moreover, this study revealed intriguing findings regarding an insignificant negative relationship between job demands and organizational identification.Furthermore, this study showed a significant mediating relationship between job demands and emotional exhaustion and between job resources and emotional exhaustion and flourishing. However, this study found no mediatingeffect of organizational identification on job demands (e.g., workload and emotional pressure) and flourishing. The study concluded with its limitations, theoretical and practical implications, and recommendations for future research.