Mediation Effects of Work Engagement among Arab Faculty Members on the Relationship between Job Demands, Organizational Commitment, and Job Strain

Abstract

The recent changes in teaching professional activity have undergone a significant increase in the occupational stress of faculty. The present study is an extension of prior studies in investigating Job Demand Resource (JD-R) model by examining two hypothesizes of the mediation effects of work engagement on the relationship between job demands, organizational commitment, and job strain. Job demands variable has been included through three factors namely workload, work ambiguity, and work conflict. The sample includes 177 faculty from several disciplines at an Arab university. Regression analysis was used to test the suggested mediating effects of study variables. The findings designated that work engagement partially mediated between role ambiguity and psychological strain, but this effect has not been reported in the relationship between role conflict and psychological strain. Similarly, partial mediation effects were concluded between role conflict and organizational commitment. The study contributed to analyzing the stressors among academics and how the role of these factors to develop the decision-making processes in higher education institutions.