Individual and family preferences of job qualities matter: association between face needs, locked-in job status, and burnout among high-tech workers in Taiwan

Feng-Jen Tsai,Hsin-Jou Chen,Ruey-Yu Chen

doi:10.1186/s12889-021-11269-8

Abstract

BackgroundStudies on the health impacts of being locked in a job are primarily conducted in Western countries, with the theory based on the value of individualism. But the socially-oriented concerns should be considered in workers’ locked-in status in Chinese society. So the current study aims at evaluating socially-oriented concerns on workers’ locked-in status in Taiwan.MethodsAnonymous surveys were conducted with 1102 workers at high-tech companies in Taiwan from October 2015 to January 2016 to assess their “face” needs-- a sociological concept linked to the dignity, prestige, and reputation that a person has in terms of their social relationships, locked-in status of the job, and burnout. In addition to being separated into three groups by lock-in score, participants were categorized by the conflict of preference of the job between themselves and their family. Chi-square, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and regression tests were conducted.ResultsAmong the 1102 participants, 18% had jobs that they did not prefer but their family preferred. Participants with higher face needs and higher locked-in status had a significantly higher risk of developing personal and work-related burnout. However, the analysis using “locked-in job conflict of preference between themselves and their family” showed a more coherent result. Participants with a job which “self does not prefer but family do” had twice the risk of having personal and work-related burnout (OR = 2.03 and 2.34, respectively). Participants with a job which neither themselves nor their family prefer had four times the risk of having personal and work-related burnout (OR = 4.10 and 4.17, respectively).ConclusionsThe current study suggests an importance in considering a socially-oriented job preference in locked-in status evaluations within the Chinese culture. Workers’ whose locked-in status preference conflicted with their family’s preference showed a significantly negative impact on their health.

Highlights

Studies on the health impacts of being locked in a job are primarily conducted in Western countries, with the theory based on the value of individualism
Current studies were conducted only in Western countries with the theory based on the value of individualism
The current study argues the need to consider a socially-oriented job preference in locked-in studies

Summary

Introduction

Studies on the health impacts of being locked in a job are primarily conducted in Western countries, with the theory based on the value of individualism. The socially-oriented concerns should be considered in workers’ locked-in status in Chinese society. The current study aims at evaluating socially-oriented concerns on workers’ locked-in status in Taiwan. The primary concept of such a situation is the nonpreference toward one’s job, so the worker does not want to remain in the current workplace [3]. To remain in the non-preferred job, despite wanting to change companies or workplace, likely causes a strain on workers and leads to impaired well-being [2,3,4,5]. Perceived employability plays a role in the locked-in status of employees. Their studies, based on longitudinal designs, showed the negative impact of locked-in status on well-being among workers [6, 7]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion