Responses to job demands: moderating role of worker cooperatives
| Pages | 346-361 |
| Date | 12 February 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-06-2017-0137 |
| Published date | 12 February 2018 |
| Author | Rhokeun Park |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Responses to job demands:
moderating role of
worker cooperatives
Rhokeun Park
College of Business, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul,
Republic of Korea
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of organizational commitment in the
relationship between job demands and job search behavior. The study also explores the moderating role of
worker cooperatives in the relationship between job demands and organizational commitment. There is little
extant research on the relationships of job demands with employee behaviors, and the roles of worker
cooperatives in those relationships.
Design/methodology/approach –Using the multi-level moderated mediation model, this study analyzed
surveys conducted in capitalist firms and worker cooperatives in the metropolitan area of Seoul in 2016.
Findings –This study provided evidence that organizational commitment mediated the relationship
between job demands and job search behavior in the total sample. The findings revealed that worker
cooperatives moderated the relationship between job demands and organizational commitment. In other
words, while the negative relationship between job demands and organizational commitment was significant
in capitalist firms, it was not maintained in worker cooperatives.
Research limitations/implications –This study provides implications on how job demands are related to
job search behavior, and how worker cooperatives may alleviate the adverse effects of job demands on
employee attitudes and behaviors. A potential limitation of the present study is that individual-level variables
were measured by self-reports.
Originality/value –While previous studies on the JDR model have examined the interaction between
job demands and individual levels of resources, the current study investigated the interaction between job
demands and organizational levels of resources.
Keywords Employee attitudes, Partnership, Employee behaviour, Small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
A recent development to explain occupational well-being is the job demands-resources (JDR)
model proposed by Demerouti et al. (2001). According to Bakker et al. (2010), this model
expanded the demand-control(-support) (DCS) model developed by Karasek (1979) to include
physical and emotional demands, as well as workload, in the job demands dimension; and
skill variety, learning possibility, and performance feedback, as well as control and social
support, in the job resources dimension. In the health impairment hypothesis of the JDR
model, excessive demands lead to impaired health problems, such as burnout and strain.
In the motivational hypothesis of the model, job resources promote motivation, such as
work engagement and organizational commitment (Bakker et al., 2010; Bakker and
Demerouti, 2008; Devonish, 2014; Van De Voorde et al., 2016).
Most previous studies on the JDR and DCS models have beenlimited to the influence that
job demandshave on mental and physical health, suchas exhaustion, stress, and burnout,and
to a lesser extent, employeeattitudes, such as engagement and job satisfaction. Most studies
on the JDR model have employed burnout and engagement as the main outcomes, and little
research existson the effects that job demands and job resourceshave on employee behaviors
(Balducci et al., 2011). As some exceptions, Bal ducci et al. (2011) found that job demands
were related to counterproductive work behavior in a sample of public-sector employees.
Employee Relations
Vol. 40 No. 2, 2018
pp. 346-361
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-06-2017-0137
Received 21 June 2017
Revised 10 October 2017
Accepted 26 October 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
This work was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund.
346
ER
40,2
Boswell et al. (2004) indicated that stressors had significant or non-significant relationships
with job withdrawal and job search behavior in a sample of a university staff. Smulders and
Nijhuis (1999) examined the relationship of job demands with absenteeism, but they found,
different from their expectations, a negative relationship between them. The current study
focuses on job search behavior because employees with excessive job demands are likely to
have turnoverintention and actively searchfor new job opportunities.Although all employees
who search for new jobs do not necessarily turnover voluntarily, this behavior may lead
them to exert less effort in their job activities and exhibit lower levels of productivity.
Since employeescontinue to use company timefor new job searches, job search behavior may
be even more deleterious to the organization than actual turnover.
Yet, there is little extant research on the mechanisms through which job demands affect
job search behavior. However, many previous studies have provided implications regarding
the possible mechanisms. For example, excessive job demands certainly result in burnout
of employees (Crawford et al., 2010; Kilroy et al., 2016; Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004;
Schaufeli et al., 2009), and exhausted employees will reduce their attachment to their
organization (Ashill and Rod, 2011; Hakanen et al., 2008; Lee and Ashforth, 1996).
Less committed employees are likely to have more turnover intention and search for new job
opportunities (Blau, 1994; Van Hooft et al., 2004) . Thus, this study investigates
organizational commitment as a mediator that links job demands to job search behavior.
Although the DC and JDR models imply an interaction between job demands and job
control or resources (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007; Bakker et al., 2010; Hausser et al., 2010),
numerous previous studies on these models have separately examined the influences
of job demands and job control or job resources on employees’well-being and its
consequences (e.g.Bakker et al., 2005, 201 0; Hakanen et al., 2008; Schaufeli and Bakker,2004;
Taris et al., 2001). This is probably because they found no interaction effect between them.
In fact, Taris (2006) reported, in a reanalysis of prior studies, that only 10 percent (9 of 90)
supported DC interaction effects. In a review of high-qualitystudies by de Lange et al. (2003),
only 21 percent (4 of 19) demonstrated significant DC(-S) interaction effects. The JDR
interaction hypotheses were also supported in only a few studies. For example, Bakker et al.
(2007) and Hakanen et al. (2005) indicated that job demands interacted with job resources to
improve work engagement. Bakker et al. (2010) found interaction effects on task enjoyment
and organizational commitment. The study by Balducci et al. (2011) supported the JDR
interaction hypothesis on negative affect. If publication bias is taken into account, more
studies should not have found these interaction effects. The limited existing support for
interactioneffects both in the DC and JDR models maybe because previous studies examined
the interaction effects between job demands and a single job resource. In other words,
if interactions of job demands with a bundle of job resources had been investigated, more
studies might have obtained significant results.
This study focuses on worker cooperatives as a type of organization that provides
individuals with comprehensive job resources. Since members of worker cooperatives
contribute to both labor and capital, different from employees of capitalist firms who
contribute only to labor, they are individually provided with substantial autonomy and
participate in organizational decision making through the general meetings of members
(Cheney et al., 2014). Since members of worker cooperatives are co-owners, worker
cooperatives may grant organizational support to them, and since they are partners, they
may provide social support to each other. In other words, because members of worker
cooperatives are simultaneously provided with various job resources, they are more likely to
be committed to their organizations and engage less frequently in job search behavior than
employees of capitalist firms, even if they experience considerable job demands. Thus, this
study examines whether worker cooperatives can relieve the adverse relationship of job
demands with organizational commitment.
347
Responses to
job demands
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