The purpose of this study is to verify the moderating effect of job autonomy and grit in the relationship between work overload and narcissism on work engagement through job stress, targeting employees of small and medium-sized enterprises. In order t...
The purpose of this study is to verify the moderating effect of job autonomy and grit in the relationship between work overload and narcissism on work engagement through job stress, targeting employees of small and medium-sized enterprises. In order to achieve this research purpose, this study constructed a research model by introducing job autonomy, work overload, grit, narcissism, job stress, and work engagement based on the JD-R model.
The population of this study was selected as employees at small and medium-sized enterprises located in the metropolitan area, and was conducted online using a Google questionnaire for a total of 8 days from October 18 to October 26, 2022. Of the 547 responses collected, a total of 528 copies (96.5% valid data rate) were used for the final analysis, excluding insincere responses. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 22.0 programs for confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive statistics, normality test, correlation analysis, structural relationships between research variables and basic statistics, and moderated mediating effect analysis using PROCESS macro 4.1 program.
As for the main research results, first, the structural relationship between each variable presented in this study was found to be appropriate. Second, job stress mediated the relationship between work overload, narcissism and work engegement. Third, the moderating effect of job autonomy was found in the relationship between work overload and work engagement as a mediator of job stress.
The conclusions drawn from the research results are as follows. First, it was confirmed that employees who recognized work overload and employees with a high level of narcissism strengthened job stress, resulting in a decrease in work engagement. Second, in the relationship between work overload and work engagement via job stress, when job autonomy is low, all groups (low, medium, and high) of grit show that their relationship is further strengthened. Third, in the relationship between narcissism and work engagement via job stress, it was found that job autonomy and grit did not control their relationship.
The implications based on the results of this study are as follows. First of all, as a theoretical implication, it was confirmed that the conceptual framework presented in the extended JD-R model was not empirically verified. Second, it was confirmed that the matching hypothesis that stress or burnout is alleviated when resources of the same level as demand are applied does not apply to individual characteristics. Next, practical implications are: First, it is necessary to establish an organizational culture that can reduce work overload. Second, it is necessary to improve the work environment to increase the level of autonomy and grit for the job so that employees' job stress can be lowered and work engagement can be increased. Third, considering that job stress acts as a factor that lowers work engagement, which is closely related to organizational performance, it is necessary to consider roles that match the work ability of employees rather than work results.