Impact of Work Design on Employee Psychological Strain among Malaysian Technical Workers

This study represents an attempt to test the impact of work design on employee well-being in Malaysia, a country characterized as collectivistic and having high power distance. Specifically, my research sought to examine the direct effects of psychosocial work characteristics on psychological strain. Also, the present study assessed the moderating effects of social support on the relationships between job demands and psychological strain. Self-reports on the study variables were obtained from 429 technical workers in a large telecommunication company in Malaysia. I used multivariate analyses to examine the direct and moderating effects hypotheses. The findings confirmed the direct effects of job demands, job control, and social support on psychological strain. The results also provide evidence for a moderating effect of supervisor support, but not for co-worker support. This research makes several theoretical contributions, and provides information concerning the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and their application to a culture characterised by high collectivism and high power distance. The findings may help human resource practitioners understand how work design influences employees’ well-being. Implications are discussed to enhance better mapping of interventions at individual and group levels.