REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
2.6 Theoretical Background
2.6.1 Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) Model
2.5.1 Importance of Work Engagement
Increasing interests are generated relating to this area due to numerous benefits. Organizations that practice the engagement among the employees tend to be more effective and gain competitive advantages (Wefald & Downey, 2009; Shuck, 2011). It is considered as the best variables to improve job performance (Saks &
Gruman, 2011). Besides, carrying out the employee engagement culture will reduce the turnover intentions (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004), increase organization commitment (Saks, 2006), job satisfaction (Wefald et al., 2011), and employee performance (Rich et al., 2010). Organizations with a high level of engaged employees also produce positive organization outcomes; such as positive organization citizenship behavior, and additional extra-role behavior (Rich et al., 2010; Schaufeli
& Salanova, 2008; Shuck & Wollard, 2010). Encompassing such benefits, researchers and practitioners provide significant attention in terms of defining and assessing employee engagement (Schaufeli et al., 2002; Macey & Schneider, 2008). Anaza and Rutherford (2012) found out that employee-customer identification is an important factor for customer orientation and job engagement for the frontline employees in service industry. There is a significant relationship found between engagement and organization citizenship behavior (Rurkkhum & Bartlett, 2012) also partially mediation relationship has been discovered on engagement between HRD practices and turnover intentions. In another study, Musgrove, Ellinger, and Ellinger (2014) demonstrated that strategic profit affects employee engagement as well as service climate.
(Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Demerouti et al., 2001). To understand the issue, researchers greatly relied on the two powerful job stress model which are demand –control model (DCM; Karasek, 1979) and effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model (Siegrist, 1996) prior to coming up of the model of JD-R (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). According to them, in DCM and ERI, the number of predicting variables are limited, which sometimes even do not match with the job position. To cover a wide range of the working conditions and occupations, JD-R model has emerged as an integrated framework to solve the issues regarding work engagement. The core factor that is considered in this model is that every job has its own nature, thereby, follow the unique risk factors. Considering this assumption, the model was categorized into two categories: job demands and job resources. Job demands are allied with the strain of work such as work pressure, unfavorable physical environment, emotional demand, and so on whereas job resources are linked with motivation process and located at different levels such as task level, organization of work level, interpersonal relations level and so on.
In JD-R model, Bakker and Demerouti (2007) referred to job demands as
“those physical, psychological, social, or organization aspects of the job that requires sustained physical and/or psychological (cognitive and emotional) effort or skills and are therefore associated with certain physiological and/or psychological costs (p.
312)”. The authors claim that job demands act as a job stressor if the job required extra effort from the employees and they cannot recover from that (Demerouti et al., 2001). On the other hand, job resources defined as “those physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that are either/or: a) functional in achieving work goals, b) reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs and c) stimulate personal growth, learning, and development (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007, p. 312)”. Job resources, therefore, is considered as a requirement of human motivation factor besides its supportive role with job demands.
Availability of the job resources facilitates the organizations to achieve its objectives.
In JD-R model, job demands predict the exhaustion whereas insufficient job resources create disengagement of the employees (Demerouti et al., 2001). Two psychological process; energetic and motivational processes are the underlying theories to understand JD-R model (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). In the energetic
process, individuals feel exhaustion once they experience excessive job demands such as work overload, emotional demands, time pressure, personal conflicts and so on. In the long run, the energy of the employees drained which will eventually cause the breakdown of the employees. On the other hand, through motivational perspective, job resources enhance employees’ growth and development through fulfilling the basic human needs (Deci & Ryan, 1985).
The JD-R model claims an inevitable interaction between job demands and job resources. According to Bakker and Demerouti (2007), the interaction is significant in consequences with both job strain and motivation. Job resources have the ability to buffer the influence on job demands. However, this buffer effect exclusively depends on the job characteristics. Specific demand and resources will take place along with the interaction with a specific characteristic of jobs. For example, autonomy can buffer the effect of work overload that causes job stress. On this note, Kahn and Byosiere (1992) stated that in the strain-stress process, any variables can appear as a buffering effect such as individual’s characteristics buffer the effects of a stressor in the different work situation (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Under the condition of high job demands, job resources have low impact in work enjoyment and organization commitment (Bakker et al., 2010).
Previous research depicted the uses of JD-R model in various backgrounds in organization literature. Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) examined that the burnout and engagement have negative relationship in JD-R model, where job demands acted as a predictor of burnout and job resources predicted for engagement. In addition, the results also describe the mediating effect of burnout between job demands and health problems, whereas engagement has a mediating effect between job resources and turnover intentions. Demerouti, Bakker, and Fried (2012) found that the work orientation acts as a moderator in the motivational process which is a cause of flow at work. According to Sulea, Virga, Maricutoiu, Schaufeli, Dumitru, and Sava (2012), the job and personal characteristics predicts the organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior that explained employees' affective motivational state. Taking into account, the JD-R model as a theoretical background, researchers also discovered that team social resources have a positive relation with teamwork engagement that in turn is associated with team performance (Torrente,
Salanova, Llorens, & Schaufeli, 2012). Tims, Bakker, and Derks (2013) explored that crafting job resources positively increase the well-being of the employees as well as their job satisfaction whereas Airilia, Hakanen, Schaufeli, Luukkonen, Punakallio, and Lusa (2014) examined that the job and personal resources have a significant effect on engagement and the work ability in the long run. In addition, Schaufeli (2015) found that JD-R model explained the contribution of leadership, which has an indirect impact on burnout and engagement through job demands and job resources.
However, it has a direct relationship with organization outcomes.