ANTECEDENTS OF EUSTRESS AND ITS IMPACT ON JOB SATISFACTION AND WORK-LIFE BALANCE AMONG DOCTORS

Abstract

This study investigates how important job resources, autonomy at work, meaning at work, and perceived organisational support are in relation to work-life balance amid the mediating roles of eustress and job satisfaction. The study incorporates the Job Demands-Resources approach and positive psychology, which proposes the importance of the resource approach, identifying stress as something which not only threatens, but also energizes.

A quantitative research design was carried out by using a pre-tested and structured research questionnaire among practising medical doctors in Karnataka, India. A total of 731 responses were collected, of which 566 were found to be valid. Two-step structural analysis has been performed on the data, which first employed confirmatory factor analysis for validating the structural model and then structural equation analysis for validating the proposed hypotheses.

The results show that autonomy at the workplace, professional meaningfulness, and perception of organizational support have a significant positive effect on eustress among doctors, with organizational support being the most prominent predictor variable. Eustress is an intervening variable with an overarching influence in enhancing job satisfaction as well as work-life balance outcomes, with job satisfaction fine-tuning the outcomes of work-life balance.

The findings and insights gained by the study have significant implications for healthcare management, pointing toward a paradigm shift away from traditional stress management techniques toward the design and creation of motivating, meaningful, and autonomy-oriented working environments. By instilling and promoting eustress, healthcare organizations can, in fact, achieve a balanced working as well as personal life, improving overall physician well-being and reducing turnover rates. The study has considerable theoretical significance in combining eustress with the concept of work-life balance, specifically within the healthcare sector, within an emerging economy such as Singapore.