Work Stress, Perceived Career Opportunity, and Organizational Loyalty In Organizational Change: a Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

We applied job demands–resources theory to construct a negative work characteristic (i.e., work stress) and a positive work characteristic (i.e., perceived career opportunity) in the context of organizational change to investigate how these characteristics affect employees' organizational loyalty. Participants were 2048 Chinese employees from a state-owned power company where a government-led power price reform had taken place. Results show that work stress is negatively related to organizational loyalty via job satisfaction, and that perceived career opportunity (PCO) is positively related to organizational loyalty. In regard to the moderating role of PCO, the negative effects of work stress on organizational loyalty and on job satisfaction, and the negative mediation effect of work stress on organizational loyalty via job satisfaction, were weaker for employees with high rather than low PCO.