Job Characteristics
How the job is designed and structured can significantly affect employees’ workplace well- being. Hackman and Oldham (1974) have proposed a model that predicts that well- designed job can bring employees three benefits—experienced meaningfulness of the work, experienced responsibility for the outcomes of the work, and knowledge of the results of the work. A well-designed job has five key features—skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and job feedback. Jobs with these features can generate higher work motivation and performance (Hochwarter et al. 1999).Thesefivefeaturesarefre- quently used in workplace research. It has been shown in some studies that they correlate positively with job satisfaction (Renn and Vandenberg 1995;TaberandTaylor 1990).
4.2 Job Roles
Job roles define lines of responsibilities associated with the job assigned to employees in the production process and as basis of their accountability for their performance. Clear job roles enable employees to better understand their responsibilities and the tasks demanded of them. Normally, unclear roles often lead to role conflict, job tensions and disharmony, thus affecting employees’ performance and well-being. Greater role discretion is correlated with better job identity and work attitudes (Gregersen and Black 1992).Roleconflict,role ambiguity, and overload create stress that may affect employees’ well-being. Role conflict and role ambiguity both are correlated with employees’ job dissatisfaction (Jackson and
1 The discussion in this section is substantially benefited from (Sirgy et al. 2006,pp.422–429). 2 The discussion in this section is substantially benefited from Fields (2002).
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Schuler 1985).Jobconflictandambiguitycanbemeasuredbythefollowingitems:(Rizzo et al., 1970,p.156;Fields 2002,pp.148–149). Role conflict items:
1. I have to do things that should be done differently 2. I have to buck a rule of a policy in order to carry out an assignment 3. I receive incompatible requests from two or more people 4. I do things that are apt to be accepted by one person and not accepted by others 5. I work on unnecessary things 6. I work with two or more groups who operate quite differently 7. I receive assignments without the manpower to complete them 8. I receive assignments without adequate resources and material to execute them
MEASURES
MEASURES
MEASURES
MEASURES
MEASURES
MEASURES
ORGANIZATION
ROLES
PERSON-
ORGANIZATION
FIT
ORGANIZATION
CITIZENSHIP
BEHAVIOR
GLOBLE VALUES CHINESE VALUES
INTEGRATIVE VALUES
BUSINESS WELL-BEING
WORKPLACE WELL-BEING
JOB
CHARACTERISTICS
ORGANIZATION
JUSTICE
FAMILY-
ORGANIZATION
CONFLICT
Fig. 2 Workplace well-being in Chinese culture communities
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Role ambiguity items:
1. I know exactly what is expected of me (R) 2. I know that I have divided my time properly (R) 3. Explanation is clear of what has to be done (R) 4. I feel certain about how much authority I have (R) 5. I know what my responsibilities are (R) 6. Clear, planned goals and objectives exist for my job (R)
Items denoted by (R) are reversely scored.
4.3 Organizational Justice
Employees in organization care about fairness. They concern about both the output fairness and procedure fairness. Whether employees perceive they are being treated fairly will affect how they react to the treatment and decisions of the organization. Output fairness refers to the fairness of the results of their work input in comparison with those of their co- employees. As such, output fairness is a kind of distributive justice. For example, people ask whether compensation and awards are fair. Procedure fairness concerns about the justice of decision making process or other managerial procedures. Both positive output fairness and procedure fairness favorably affect the work behavior and performance of employees (Ball et al. 1994;Korsgaardetal. 1995).Perceptionofoutputunfairnesslowers employees’ pay satisfaction which harms job satisfaction. Perception of procedure injustice erodes organizational commitment and breeds distrust in organizations (Folger and Konovsky 1989).Thefollowingitemshelpspelloutinmoreconcretetermsthesetwo kinds of fairness (Parker et al. 1997,p.318;inFields 2002,pp.168–169):
1. People involved in implementing decisions have a say in making the decisions 2. Members of my work unit are involved in making decisions that directly affect their work 3. Decisions are made on the basis of research, data, and technical criteria, as opposed to political concerns 4. People with the most knowledge are involved in the resolution of problems 5. If a work unit performs well, there are appropriate recognition and rewards for all 6. If one performs well, there are appropriate recognition and rewards 7. If one performs well, there are sufficient recognition and rewards
Items 1–4 concern procedural fairness, while items 5–7 are about output fairness.
4.4 Person-Organization Fit
Person-organization fit refers to the extent of compatibility between the attributes of the employee and the character of the organization of which the employee is a member. The personality traits, attitudes, beliefs, values, preferences and interests of the employee stand on one side of the fit equation. The objectives, norms, culture and tradition, climate of the organization reside on the opposite side. When these attributes on the two sides match, a fit occurs. A good fit will produce more harmonious working relationships and behavior that generate positive results. Of all the various kinds of fits, value and purpose fit represent the two crucial kinds critical to the success of the organization and the well-being of the employee. Value fit or congruence between the employee and the organization is critical because organization values stand at the core of organization culture that affects
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employees’ conduct. Purpose fit is important because shared purposes between employees and management build trust and enhance cooperation. One simple way to measure the person-organization fit is to ask questions about the extent to which a value fit exists between the employee and the organization and the other members of the organization, whether the employee’s values match those of his/her co- workers in the organization, or whether the culture of the organization reflects the employee’s own values and goals, whether the employee feels competent to handle his/her job, whether the job gives the employee a chance to do the things he/she feels he/she do the best, whether the employee feels he/she has adequate preparation for the job he/she holds (Bretz and Judge 1994; Cable and Judge 1996; Sims and Kroeck 1994; Xie 1996; Fields 2002, p. 227, p. 233).
4.5 Work-Family Conflict
In today’s high-stress workplace, one important source of stress comes from the tensions created between the demands of the workplace and those of the family. Work-family conflict refers to the conflicts between the role responsibilities in the workplace and those in the family (Kossek and Ozeki 1998). As a result of these conflicts, people’s level of job and life satisfaction suffers. They are also responsible for behaviors including absenteeism, tardiness and turnover (Aryee et al. 1998). The role relationships behind these conflicts are complex. The relationship between work demands and family obligations is not always causal but correlational, with cross-domains spillovers. Employees, for example, may have tendencies to compensate for dissatisfactions or disappointments in their workplace, by paying more attention to their family, or vice versa. It is found that work-family conflict is correlated in various degrees of strength with job and life satisfaction (Kossek and Ozeki 1998). It is also discovered that spill- overs of negative affect from work to family and from family to work are stronger for women than for men (Williams and Alliger 1994). The work-family conflict situation can be measured by the following items (Netemeyer et al. 1996, p. 410; Fields 2002, pp. 202–203): Work-family conflict items:
1. The demands of my work interfere with my home family life 2. The amount of time my job takes up makes it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities 3. Things I want to do at home do not get done because of the demands my job puts on me 4. My job produces strain that makes it difficult to make changes to my plans for family activities 5. Due to work-related duties, I have to make changes to my plans for family activities
Family-work conflict items:
1. The demands of my family or spouse/partner interfere with work-related activities 2. I have to put off doing things at work because of demands on my time at home 3. Things I want to do at work don’t get done because of the demands of my family spouse/partner 4. My home life interferes with my responsibilities at work such as getting to work on time, accomplishing daily tasks, and working overtime 5. Family-related strain interferes with my ability to perform job-related duties
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4.6 Organization Citizenship Behavior
Organization citizenship behaviors (OCB) refer to beneficial behaviors and organization- ally undertaken by employees in the organization that contribute to the success of the organization by creating mutually supportive and cooperative relationships, trust, and active engagement in the workplace. These behaviors include traditional in-role job per- formance behaviors, organizationally functional extra-role conducts, among others (Sagia 1998). There are three kinds of OCB. First, organization compliance behaviors which include the acceptance of the necessary and desirable rational rules and regulations of the organization. Second, organization loyalty which includes allegiance to the organization as a whole without succumbing to parochial interests