Date of Award
2013
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Philosophy (MPHIL)
Department
Sociology and Social Policy
First Advisor
Prof Oi-Ling SIU
Second Advisor
Dr. Vicki YEUNG
Abstract
Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007) provides valuable insight in identifying the antecedents and consequences of work stress and engagement. Nevertheless, the roles of personal resources and differentiated job demands (i.e., challenge demands and hindrance demands) have received less attention in the literature. Studies on their interaction effects are even rarer. This thesis reports two studies intending to fill this gap of knowledge.
Study 1 aimed to develop a new scale of energy management strategies (EMS) at work and to demonstrate its reliability. A self-administered questionnaire survey adopting a cross-sectional design was conducted among 323 employees recruited from different occupations in Hong Kong. Results of exploratory factor analyses showed that the new scale comprised three main factors with good reliabilities. The aims of Study 2 were two-fold: a) to cross-validate the new EMS scale developed in Study 1; b) to investigate the roles (i.e., as antecedent and moderator) of personal resources (energy management strategies and recovery experiences) and different job demands in the JD-R model. A self-administered questionnaire survey adopting a cross-sectional design was conducted among 173 teachers in Hong Kong. Consistent with the results of Study 1, results of confirmatory factor analyses also suggested a three-factor structure of the energy management strategies scale. As hypothesized, EMS and recovery experiences were positively associated with work engagement, such association was especially strong under challenge demands. Besides, both challenge and hindrance demands were positively related to exhaustion. EMS was the only tested personal resource that could mitigate the relationship between challenge demands and exhaustion. None of the tested personal resources mitigated the relationship between hindrance demands and exhaustion. Theoretical contribution and practical implications of research findings are discussed in the thesis.
Copyright
The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited.
Recommended Citation
Siu, C. N. (2013). Extending job demands-resources model: The roles of energy management strategies and recovery experiences in facing differentiated job demands (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.14793/soc_etd.34