مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد مزایای سلامت جسمی و روانی کارکنان ( الزویر )

مقاله سال ۲۰۱۷

Economic turbulence makes employment in contemporary society very demanding (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015). Employees increasingly work longer hours to prove hardcore commitment to their organizations, reduce the risks of layoffs and maintain the same level of income as before the economic crisis (Fondas, 2014). Consequently, work-home tensions, marital conflict, mental exhaustion, and substance abuse are on the increase (Adkins & Premeaux, 2012; Drummond et al., 2016). This trend may have significant negative repercussions on people’s capacity to engage in other domains outside work (hereinafter nonwork) and consequently on their wellbeing as the benefits of engaging in both work and nonwork domains are well-documented in numerous literatures (Booth, Park, & Glomb, 2009; Ollier-Malaterre, 2010; Meuris & Leana, 2015; Newman, Tay, & Diener, 2013; Ryan, Huta, & Deci 2008; Sonnentag, Kuttler, & Fritz, 2010). Work-family researchers have widely demonstrated that engaging in both work and non-work activities can reduce work-family conflict (Griggs, Casper, & Eby, 2013) and increase work-family enrichment (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006; Hakanen, Peeters, & Perhoniemi, 2011; Russo, 2015; Wayne, Casper, Matthews, & Allen, 2013). Stress researchers have also documented that engaging in meaningful activities outside work can help employees recover, recharge their batteries, and ‘switch off’ from work-related preoccupations (Bakker, Demerouti, Oerlemans, Sonnentag, 2013; Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015). Similarly, career researchers claim that devoting time to community and to personal interests outside work is crucial to build a sustainable career over time (Greenhaus & Kossek, 2014; Newman, 2011; Ng & Feldman, 2014).

In this paper, we focus on the effects of work-non-work enrichment on people’s happiness and their physical and mental health. Drawing on prior research, we define happiness as a highly valued positive emotional state that is related to subjective well-being and general satisfaction (Kim-Prieto, Diener, Tamir, Scollon, & Diener, 2005), whereas health as an individual’s condition that can be examined from a focus on individual biomedical state to a wide-ranging aspects of human welfare (Salomon, Mathers, Chatterji, Sadana, Ustun, & Murray, 2003).

Using a sample of 10,331 employees in rural and urban areas of China, we examine whether people’s experience of work-non-work enrichment, captured by their engagement in civic activities and perception of acquiring valuable resources at work (hereinafter work resources), is likely to enhance their physical and mental health indirectly, by making them experience greater levels of happiness. Moreover, we test whether the individuals’ level of income is likely to moderate the relationship between work-non-work enrichment and happiness.