Job Demands and Resources and Employee Well-being among Social Workers in China: The Mediating Effects of Affect

Abstract

Abstract Social workers’ jobs require a great deal of emotional labour and can lead to compassion fatigue and psychological distress. Whilst China has seen rapid development in the professionalisation of social work, the future of this field is threatened by high burnout and turnover, prompting a need to understand how best to support the well-being of social workers, who provide essential services to vulnerable community members. This study examines job demands (JD) and resources as antecedents of employee well-being (EWB) and whether these relations are mediated by positive and negative affect (NA). In a sample of 897 social workers based in Chengdu, China, JD had a total effect of −0.15 on EWB (p < 0.001), whilst job resources (JR) had a total effect of 0.52 on EWB (p < 0.001). About two-thirds of JD’s effects and half of JR’s effects on EWB were mediated by positive and NA. The mediation effects of positive and NA suggest that interventions that seek to increase positive affect and reduce NA may promote EWB in Chinese social workers.