Does loyalty protect Chinese workers from stress? The role of affective organizational commitment in the Greater China Region

The aim of this research was to test the direct and moderating effects of affective organizational commitment (AOC) on the work stressors—job satisfaction relationship among employees in the Greater China Region. A self-administered survey was conducted to collect data from three major cities in the region, namely Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei (n = 380). Three most important work stressors were assessed: heavy workload, lack of work autonomy and interpersonal conflict. We found that both work stressors and AOC were related to job satisfaction. Specifically, heavy workload, lack of autonomy and interpersonal conflict were negatively related to job satisfaction; whereas, AOC had a positive relation with job satisfaction. Furthermore, AOC moderated the interpersonal conflict—job satisfaction and the lack of autonomy—job satisfaction relationships. The present study thus found joint effects of work stressors and AOC (as buffers) on work attitudes among Chinese employees in the Greater China Region, encompassing three sub-societies of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan