Coping with a downturn : The addition of meaningful work to the JD-R Model in the context of the downturn in the Western Australian mining industry

Abstract

The mining industry in Western Australia went through a period of long term stability, followed by one of the biggest booms in 2012 as the commodity prices drastically increased. In mid-2015, the commodity market crashed leading to a downturn in the mining industry. This had a huge impact on the labor market resulting in high numbers of layoffs and an increase in workload for the layoff survivors. Current study applied the extended Job Demands-Resources model to examine the employee experience in times of an economic downturn. This is done by applying the constructs of meaningful work and job autonomy as job resource, and the concepts of work overload and job insecurity as job demands. This led to the central question of this study: “To what extent do meaningful work, job autonomy, work overload, and job insecurity influence the processes of burnout and work engagement in the JD-R model in the Western Australian mining industry, and to what extent are these relationships moderated by the job resources meaningful work and job autonomy and the job demands work overload and job insecurity?” This question has been investigated by executing a quantitative cross-sectional study. An online survey was sent to approximately 400 employees working at the offices of the mining organization Fortescue Metals Group in Western Australia. In total, 121 employees participated in the study (N=121). Current study found new insights about the working of the Job Demands-Resources model in the context of Western Australia. The results display a positive direct relationships to between the factors of meaningful work and work engagement, job autonomy and work engagement, and work overload and burnout. The relationship between job insecurity and burnout was not found to be present. Furthermore, no moderator effects were found in current study. The lack of moderating effects are in contrast with the insights gained from previous studies. Therefore, questions can be asked whether the Job Demands-Resources model is as open and flexible as proposed in the academic literature. Future research could focus on increasing insights about the Job Demands-Resources model.