Fostering job engagement amid psychological demands. A case of a South African State owned enterprise

Abstract

The relationship amongst job insecurity and work-family conflict on job engagement is of great concern more especially in the prevailing South African work setting which is mostly portrayed by downsizing and layoffs. Job insecurity is affecting most employees in South Africa spilling over to the family domain. The Job Demands Resources (JD-R) Model identifies job insecurity and work-family conflict as psychological demands with negative consequences to job engagement. A quantitative study was carried out using a sample of both male and female employees from selected energy depots in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Data was analysed using SPSS via regression, chi square and Pearson correlation coefficient. There was a negative significant relationship between job insecurity and job engagement contrary to work family conflict. Results from multiple regression method and chi-square reported that job insecurity and work-family conflict together do not account for a significantly higher proportion of variance on job engagement than any of the two separately. The study proposed for the continuous monitoring of psychological hazards in the workplace. The study also recommended the empowerment of employees through socialization and team building activities to  promote job engagement.