Off-the-job embeddedness moderates work intensity on employee stress

Abstract

PurposeWork intensity causes employee stress. This paper demonstrates that off-the-job embeddedness (OffJE), a potential source of social support resources, buffers the negative effect of work intensity on employee stress.Design/methodology/approachGuided by conservation of resources (COR) and job embeddedness theory (JET), this paper reports on the moderated regression analysis of the survey responses of 385 adult employees from a variety of industries in Queensland, Australia, using a student-recruited sampling strategy.FindingsHigher levels of work intensity were found to be associated with higher levels of employee stress. However, this effect was weaker for employees who had higher OffJE. In this sample, work intensity has no relationship with stress for employees who report OffJE beyond the 70th percentile.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates the positive role of outside workplace relationships embodied in OffJE on workplace employee experience, justifies employer work-life balance initiatives and community involvement, demonstrates the potential positive return for employer involvement in helping employees manage the experience of work intensity and contributes to the social support, COR and job embeddedness literature studies.

The impact of online office on social anxiety among primary and secondary school teachers—Considering online social support and work intensity

“…As shown in Table 2, work intensity has a significant positive effect on social anxiety, meaning that the higher the intensity of teachers' work, the more likely it is to lead to social anxiety, which is consistent with the findings of Satoshi Kuhara et al (2022); Semple (2021) and Treuren and Fein (2022). Higher work intensity takes away from physical activity and social time, which negatively affects teachers' physical and mental health and is detrimental to labor sustainability and disease risk management.…”

“…Work intensity was measured by including the number of hours worked and the amount of work tasks ( Treuren and Fein, 2022 ), with a total of four topics to measure: hours worked per day (1 = less than 3 h, 2 = 3–5 h, 3 = 5–7 h, 4 = 7–9 h, 5 = more than 9 h); days worked per week (1 = less than 4 days, 2 = 4 days, 3 = 5 days, 4 = 6 days, 5 = 7 days); number of meetings per week (1 = less than 3, 2 = 3–5, 3 = 5–7, 4 = 7–9, 5 = greater than 9); and many work tasks per day (1 = completely disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = average, 4 = agree, 5 = completely agree). Higher scores indicate more intense work ( Table 1 ).…”

Decoding employee experiences during pandemic through online employee reviews: insights to organizations

“…Further, we externally validated the identified EX-factors by comparing them with the EX-factors studied and researched in the extant human resource management literature (Aguinis and Burgi-Tian, 2021; Bryant and Allen, 2013; Charalampous et al. , 2022; Farooq and Sultana, 2022; Gheidar and ShamiZanjani, 2020; Mascarenhas, 2019; Pineda, 2021; Srinivasan and Nachimuthu, 2022; Treuren and Fein, 2022; Yoon et al ., 2021).…”