Job Satisfaction for Sustainability: The Impact of Toxic Work Environment and Workload Mediated by Emotional Exhaustion

Abstract

Private organizations often face stronger competitive pressures and place the burden of coping on their employees. However, toxic work environments and unhealthy workloads can negatively impact workers. Workers spend most of their lives in the work environment, so having workers with low job satisfaction has an impact on workers' sustainability and psychological health. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of a toxic workplace and a heavy burden on job satisfaction among private sector workers in the Indonesian province of Yogyakarta Special Region. Emotional exhaustion will be employed as a mediator. Researchers used answers from 630 permanent and non-permanent employee respondents, whose data were collected using accidental sampling techniques. This research is quantitative, and data analysis is carried out using PLS. The findings showed that a toxic work environment, either directly or through emotional exhaustion, is a predictor of decreased satisfaction. Workload actually increases the feeling of satisfaction among workers, but workload that causes emotional exhaustion will reduce it.