Work satisfaction and emotional well-being at workplace in Hong Kong

Abstract

Work satisfaction emphasizes an individual’s feelings and thinking about his/her work, and it can be crucial to both the emotional health of employees and the success of companies. Many previous surveys in the world raised concern about the job satisfaction and well-being of Hong Kong workers, given the low rank and scores when compared to other countries. The study aimed to identify the linkage between work satisfaction and emotional well-being, the underlying mechanism based on the basic psychological needs under the self-determination theory, as well as the moderating effect of mental health status. A sample of 375 Hong Kong working adults was collected through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), an employee benefit programme provided by employers. Self-reporting questionnaire with measurement of job satisfaction, need satisfaction, as well as emotional well-being was adopted. Questions concerning psychiatric history and self-harm intentions were asked, and mediation and moderation analysis was performed using PROCESS macro in SPSS. Results reveal a significant positive association between work satisfaction and emotional well-being. The findings further showed a significant mediating effect of work engagement in the relationship. Moderated mediation was discovered too, that the influence of relationship with supervisors on the linkage between work satisfaction and emotional well-being was moderated by mental health status. Implications and limitations were discussed.