The Influence Mechanism And Boundary Conditions Of Problem Solving Demands On Work Engagement

With the rapid development of social economy,organizations and individuals are faced with volatile,uncertain,complex and ambiguous challenges.In this context,if organizations and employees want to achieve sustainable development,they must improve the status quo through proactive employee engagement.Therefore,how to improve work engagement is a hot topic in the field of organizational management,and also the goal that managers in organizations always pursue.Previous studies have shown that good job design can promote employee engagement;As a motive work characteristic,problem solving demands emphasize novel and unexpected tasks faced by individuals,thus providing a new path for improving work engagement.Previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the impact of problem solving demands on work engagement.Based on this,this study combined with the cognitive appraisal theory of stress,adopted questionnaire method to study the relationship and mechanism between problem solving demands and work engagement,and explored the possible boundary conditions at the individual level and the organizational level.Further supplementary interviews provided support for the relationship between variablesFirst of all,227 valid subjects were investigated using a two time point(4 weeks interval)questionnaire method,and the data were analyzed using SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 24.0.The research results are as follows:(1)Challenge appraisal plays a mediating role between problem solving demands and work engagement,that is,problem solving demands will promote work engagement by triggering challenge appraisal.(2)Hindrance appraisal plays a mediating role between problem solving demands and work engagement,that is,problem solving demands will decrease work engagement by triggering hindrance appraisal.(3)SOC strategy can moderate the relationship between problem solving demands and challenge appraisal,that is,the higher the SOC level,the stronger the positive impact of problem solving demands on challenge appraisal.(4)Coaching leadership can moderate the relationship between problem solving demands and hindrance appraisal,that is,the higher the level of coaching leadership,the weaker the positive relationship between problem solving demands and hindrance appraisal.After the questionnaire research,in order to further verify the results of the research and ensure the ecological validity of the research,12 respondents were supplemented with the self-compiled interview outline.Qualitative research of interviews provides realistic evidence for the results of quantitative research,so as to better understand the influence mechanism and boundary conditions of problem solving demands on work engagement.Based on the the cognitive appraisal theory of stress,this study describes the double-edged sword effect of problem solving demands on work engagement,providing a new perspective for the research on work engagement.In addition,the verification of the moderating effect of SOC strategy and coaching leadership also provides a reference for employees to correctly view the problem solving demands,so as to create greater value for the sustainable development of employees and organizations.