The mediating effect of job autonomy and depression on the relationship between the leaders' roles and employees' job satisfaction according to employment type

Background and objective: Today, the roles of leaders and employees have become crucial for corporate performance, with leaders having a significant effect on employees. This study aimed to analyze leaders' effect on employees' job satisfaction. It also aimed to analyze the effect of employees' depression and job autonomy on the relationship between leaders' roles and employees' job satisfaction by employment type.

Materials and methods: In total, 24,327 cases from the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey were analyzed; the established hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Results: In both regular and non-regular employees, the leader's role had a positive effect on job satisfaction. Job autonomy and depression had a mediating effect. The effect of the leader's role on job autonomy was greater in regular employees compared to non-regular employees; however, the effect of the leader's role on depression was greater in non-regular employees.

Conclusions: For non-regular employees, the expansion of job autonomy is limited due to the nature of their work. This implies that the greater focus of leaders should be on reducing depression resulting in increasing employees' job satisfaction. For regular employees, the leaders' focus should be on expanding job autonomy, which will be effective in increasing employees' job satisfaction.

Leader role; Job satisfaction; Depression; Job autonomy; Employee

[1] Yoon SD, Kim MJ. The Effects of Transformational Leadership and Subordinates‘ Emotional Intelligence on Job Performance: Focused on the mediating effect of emotional intelligence and the moderating effect of self-efficacy. Korean Journal of Resources Development. 2017; 20: 109–135.

[2] Geier MT. Leadership in extreme contexts: Transformational lead-ership, performance beyond expectations? Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies. 2016; 23: 234–247.

[3] Kim JW, Chae SH, Bae SH. A study on the influence of trans-formational leadership and trust on organizational commitment: Focusing on the moderating effect of trust. Journal of Management & Organization. 2009; 29: 31–61.

[4] Lee YS, Oh DK, Suh YW. Determinants of company trust and leader trust. Korean Journal of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. 2004; 17: 147–186.

[5] Tan HH, Tan CS. Toward the differentiation of trust in supervisor and trust in organization. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs. 2000; 126: 241–260.

[6] Aryee S, Walumbwa FO, Zhou Q, Hartnell CA. Transformational Leadership, Innovative Behavior, and Task Performance: Test of Mediation and Moderation Processes. Human Performance. 2012; 25: 1–25.

[7] Mayer RC, Davis JH, Schoorman FD. An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust. Academy of Management Review. 1995; 20: 709–734.

[8] Pandey A, Schulz ER, Camp RR. The impact of supervisory support for high-performance human resource practices on employee in-role, extra-role and counterproductive behaviors. Journal of Managerial Issues. 2018; 30: 97–121.

[9] Connelly MS, Gilbert JA, Zacaaro SJ, Threfall KV, Marks MA, Mumford MD. Exploring the relationship of leadership and knowledge to leader performance. Leadership Quarterly. 2000; 11: 65–86.

[10] Brown SP, Peterson RA. Antecedents and Consequences of Salesper-son Job Satisfaction: Meta-Analysis and Assessment of Causal Effects. Journal of Marketing Research. 1993; 30: 63–77.

[11] Shore LM, Tetrick LE. A construct validity study of the survey of perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1991; 76: 637–643.

[12] Oh YS. The Influence of Transformational Leadership on Job Satisfaction and Customer Orientation in Hotel F&B Employees. Culinary Science & Hospitality Research. 2009; 15: 139–152.

[13] Jang HS. The effects of service orientation and job satisfaction to customer orientation and business performance in medical service organization. Management & Information Systems Review. 2008; 25: 1–34.

[14] Banker RD, Konstans C, Mashruwala R. A contextual study of links between employee satisfaction, employee turnover, customer satisfaction and financial performance. 2000. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.24.2698&rep=rep1&type=pdf (Accessed: 18 January 2021).

[15] Gwak HJ, Choi EY. Effects of Work Characteristics on Paid Workers’ Job Satisfaction: Focused on Gender Difference. Women’s studies. 2018; 97: 103–140.

[16] Um TS, Kim HS. Impacts of job stress and job satisfaction on depression among local public servants. Journal of Health and Social Sciences. 2013; 34: 135–158.

[17] Choi S, Lee J, Sim S, Lee J, Park J. The Effect of Job Stress and Depression on Job Satisfaction among Workers in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. Journal of Convergence for Information Technology. 2017; 7: 1–9.

[18] Statistics Canada. Canada: Canadian Community Health Survey - Mental Health and Well-being (CCHS). 2002. Available at: http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function= getSurvey&SurvId=1632&InstaId=5285 (Accessed: 19 January 2021).

[19] Hong JP, Lee D, Sim Y, Kim YH. Awareness, Attitude and Impact of Perceived Depression in the Workplace in Korea. Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association. 2015; 54: 188–201.

[20] Goetzel RZ, Ozminkowski RJ, Sederer LI, Mark TL. The business case for mental health services: why employers should care about the mental health and well-being of their employees. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2002; 44: 320–330.

[21] Lerner D, Henke RM. What does research tell us about depression, job performance, and work productivity? Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2008; 50: 401–410.

[22] Greenberg PE, Kessler RC, Birnbaum HG, Leong SA, Lowe SW, Berglund PA, et al. The economic burden of depression in the United States: how did it change between 1990 and 2000? Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2003; 64: 1465–1475.

[23] Sobocki P, Jönsson B, Angst J, Rehnberg C. Cost of depression in Europe. Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics. 2006; 9: 87–98.

[24] Kim W, Hwang TY, Ham BJ, Lee JS, Choi BH, Kim SJ, et al. The impact of major depressive disorder on productivity in workers: A preliminary study using WHO-HPQ (Health and Work Performance Questionnaire). Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association. 2007; 46: 587–595.

[25] Adler DA, McLaughlin TJ, Rogers WH, Chang H, Lapitsky L, Lerner D. Job Performance Deficits Due to Depression. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2006; 163: 1569–1576.

[26] Kato R, Haruyama Y, Endo M, Tsutsumi A, Muto T. Heavy overtime work and depressive disorder among male workers. Occupational Medicine. 2014; 64: 622–628.

[27] Choi SB. The Multi-level Effects of Job Autonomy on Perceived Team Performance. Korean Journal of Resources Development. 2019; 22: 23–42.

[28] Jang HY, Lee CS, Ryu EK. The moderating effect of teacher relation-ship adaptation between adolescents’ domestic abuse experience and depression. Journal of Digital Convergence. 2020; 18: 1–7.

[29] Lee IJ, Lee SC, Kim YK. The effects of job satisfaction on job performance with the moderating effects of leadership. Journal of the Korea Contents Association. 2019; 19: 544–555.

[30] Lee HK. Effects of authentic leadership on organizational commitment for employees. Journal of Digital Convergence. 2014; 12: 181–190.

[31] Park HK, Lee JH. The effects of transformational leadership and servant leadership on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, service quality and customer satisfaction. Korean Journal of Hospitality & Tourism. 2014; 23: 167–194.

[32] Lee YJ, Lee HS. The effects of job characteristics on job involvement between contingent workers and permanent workers. Korean Journal of Human Resource Development. 2005; 7: 57–82.

[33] Yoo GJ. Analysis of the causes of changes in non-regular workers in 2019: Where did the 870,000 non-regular workers come from, a surge in 2019? Korean Economic Forum. 2020; 12: 69–96.

[34] Koh SB, Son M, Kong JO, Lee CG, Chang SJ, Cha BS. Job Characteristics and Psychosocial Distress of Atypical Workers. Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2003; 16: 103–113.

[35] Kim KW, Cho YH. The moderating effect of managerial roles on job stress and satisfaction by employees’ employment type. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17: 8259.

[36] Shin HS. The effect of leadership styles on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment in foodservice industry. Korean Journal of Hospitality & Tourism. 2011; 20: 187–202.

[37] Kim WJ, Seo WS. The effects of transformational and transactional leadership on organizational citizenship behavior of hotel employees: Focused on the moderating role of empowerment. Korean Journal of Hospitality & Tourism. 2010; 19: 173–198.

[38] Kim JK, Lee GO. The effect of administrator’s leadership on organiza-tional identification of hotel employees: Focusing on the mediation role of trust. International journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research. 2009; 23: 361–378.

[39] Bass BM. Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press. 1985.

[40] Hong S, Park H, Kim Y. The effect of supervisory support on Job Satisfaction, Job performance, and Organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Tourism Enhancement. 2019; 7: 169–187.

[41] Kim DJ, Choi YM. The Effect of Transformational Leadership on Job Satisfaction: Focusing on the Mediating Effect of Positive Psychological Capital. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 2020; 11: 45–60.

[42] Yoon YH, Nam GS, Lee SI. The effects of transformational leadership and transactional leadership of SMEs’ managers on job satisfaction: Focusing on mediating effects of leader trust. Korean Review of Corporation Management. 2019; 10: 327–348.

[43] Lim KM, Kwon HG. The effects of emotional leadership on innovative behavior and psychological depression of bankers: analysis of double mediation effect. Journal of the Korea Industrial Information Systems Research. 2019; 24: 107–118.

[44] Shin JH. A structural relationship among principals’ emotional leadership, school organizational culture, and job satisfaction. Journal of Educational Research. 2015; 13: 121–142.

[45] Jun Y, Kim H. Impact of Emotional Leadership on Organizational Attachment and Job Satisfaction. Regional Industry Review. 2018; 41: 289–312.

[46] Rho SH, Kwon TI. An influence of fun leadership on service effect in hotel business: Focused on the mediating effect of followership and group cohesiveness. International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research. 2011; 25: 145–161.

[47] Jang HJ. A study on the effects of fun management in hotel industry to job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Hotel & Resort. 2012; 11: 229–244.

[48] Kang MS, Kim YS. The moderating effect of emotional intelligence between servant leadership and job satisfaction. Journal of Business Economics. 2015; 29: 287–309.

[49] Cerit Y. The Effects of Servant Leadership Behaviours of School Principals on Teachers’ Job Satisfaction. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. 2009; 37: 600–623.

[50] Park OS, Lim YW. Influence of the servant leadership of hotel manager on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Journal of Tourism Management Research. 2014; 62: 213–228.

[51] Rainey DV, Murova O. Factors influencing education achievement. Applied Economics. 2004; 36: 2397–2404.

[52] Kim J, Kim K, Kang S. The Effect of Economic Job Satisfaction on Turnover Intention in the Hotel Industry. Journal of Tourism Sciences. 2017; 41: 45–62.

[53] Kim KM, Yoo JY, Doh SG. The analysis of the relationships between job autonomy and job satisfaction of early childhood teachers: Focusing on the moderating effects of leadership types of directors of daycare centers and kindergartens in Daegu and Gyeongbuk areas. Korean Journal of Local Government Studies. 2020; 24: 73–100.

[54] Ham BK, Lee JJ. The effects of CEO leadership on the organization. Journal of Culture & Tourism Research. 2008; 10: 113–125.

[55] Griffith J. Relation of principal transformational leadership to school staff job satisfaction, staff turnover, and school performance. Journal of Educational Administration. 2004; 42: 333–356.

[56] Cho KR, Park MK, Lee HJ. The Mediator Effect of Communication on Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Job Per-formance: Focusing on the cognition of police officers. Korean Public Management Review. 2016; 30: 1–25.

[57] Kum YJ, Song KS. The influence of transformational & transactional leadership on the organizational performance. Korean Public Admin-istration Quarterly. 2014; 26: 53–76.

[58] Lee YK, Du CE. A Study of the Effect of Leadership Type on Job Satisfaction and Job Commitment of Local Public Officials: Focusing on Differences between Gender Groups and Age Groups. Korean Public Management Review. 2018; 32: 1–23.

[59] Kim Y, Na S, Kim J, Park Y. A Meta-analysis of the Difference in Job Satisfaction Levels by Type of Employee. Korean Society for the Study of Vocational Education. 2018; 37: 101–118.

[60] Moon YM. Differences and Determinants of Job Satisfaction by Employment Type. Korean Journal of Labor Studies. 2013; 19: 139–175.

[61] Joo SJ, Han SD. Differences in Working Conditions and Job Satisfaction by Working Type of Disabled Workers. Disability & Employment. 2010; 20: 47–74.

[62] Hackman JR, Oldham GR. Motivation through the design of work: test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance. 1976; 16: 250–279.

[63] Campion MA. Interdisciplinary approaches to job design: a construc-tive replication with extensions. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1988; 73: 467–481.

[64] W. Renn R. The critical psychological states: an underrepresented component in job characteristics model research. Journal of Manage-ment. 1995; 21: 279–303.

[65] Loher BT, Noe RA, Moeller NL, Fitzgerald, MP. A meta-analysis of the relation of job characteristics to job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1985; 70: 280–289.

[66] Spector PE. Perceived Control by Employees: A meta-analysis of studies concerning autonomy and participation at work. Human Relations. 1986; 39: 1005–1016.

[67] Yoon JH, Jeung D, Chang SJ. Does High Emotional Demand with Low Job Control Relate to Suicidal Ideation among Service and Sales Workers in Korea? Journal of Korean Medical Science. 2016; 31: 1042–1048.

[68] Seo JS, Cho HK, Lee JB. The influence of dual-income married men’ job autonomy on job satisfaction: Focusing on mediating effect of parenting involvement. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship. 2018; 13: 119–129.

[69] Klein JA. A Re-examination of Autonomy in Light of New Manufac-turing Practices. Human Relations. 1991; 44: 21–38.

[70] Meiksins PF, Watson JM. Professional Autonomy and Organizational Constraint: The Case of Engineers. Sociological Quarterly. 1989; 30: 561–585.

[71] Song JS, Lee KY. The effect of servant leadership on job autonomy, trust in supervisor and creativity. Korean Industrial Economic Association. 2009; 22: 1911–1937.

[72] Kim I, Park SO, Ryu TM. A Study of Coaching Leadership Influence on the Job Autonomy and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Multicultural Family Support Center. Journal of Human Resource Management Research. 2017; 24: 127–145.

[73] Kim JO. The Effects of Perception of Fashion Company CEO’s Authentic Leadership on Job Autonomy and Innovation Behaviors. Korean Society of Costume. 2019; 69: 141–155.

[74] Motowidlo SJ, Packard JS, Manning MR. Occupational stress: its causes and consequences for job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1986; 71: 618–629.

[75] Sperry L, Carlson J, Sauerheber DJ, Sperry J. Psychopathology and psychotherapy: DSM-5 diagnosis, case conceptualization, and treatment. Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. UK: Routledge. 2014.

[76] Kim KH. Depression and suicide in Korean adolescents. Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issues. 2004; 10: 55–68.

[77] Hagan J, Kay F. Even Lawyers Get the Blues: Gender, Depression, and Job Satisfaction in Legal Practice. Law & Society Review. 2007; 41: 51–78.

[78] King RC, Sethi V. The moderating effect of organizational com-mitment on burnout in information systems professionals. European Journal of Information Systems. 1997; 6: 86–96.

[79] Lee, KH. A study on the effect of the types of leadership on customer orientation via job stress and depressive feeling. Journal of Human Resource Management Research. 2010; 17: 111–130.

[80] Khazraee T, Rayatpishe G, Heidari Z, Janizadeh S. Effective factors in depression, anxiety and stress in the workplace and their Impact on job satisfaction in Fasa health workers in 2019. Journal of Fasa University of Medical Sciences. 2020; 10: 2613–2624.

[81] Lee YR, Park SN, Lee MR. Impact of Job Stress, Depression and Perceived Health Status on Job Satisfaction among Child Care Teachers. Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing. 2016; 25: 259–267.

[82] Salma U, Hasan MM. Relationship between job satisfaction and depression, anxiety and stress among the female nurses of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Bangladesh. Public Health Research. 2020; 10: 94–102.

[83] Lee HK, Sohn MS, Choi MK. Factors Associated with Depression among Workers by Socio-economic Factors, Health Behaviors, and Characteristics of Work Environment. Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion. 2013; 30: 125–138.

[84] DH Lee, KA Ham, JY Kim, MK Kim, SW Jung, JB Kim. Gender differences in DSM-IV major depression symptoms: Based on Korean psychiatric diagnostic screening questionnaire(K-PDSQ). Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. 2013; 20: 201–222.

[85] Shin YC. Job Stress and Depression. Journal of Korean Neuropsychi-atric Association. 2020; 59: 88–97.

[86] Nezu A, Ronan G. Life stress, current problem solving and depressive symptoms: An interactive model. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1985; 53: 693–697.

[87] Han KH. An exploratory study for the relationship of transformational and transactional leadership factors on followers’ stress syndrome. Korean Management Review. 1999; 28: 51–74.

[88] Kim SM, Ahn JH, Choi MS. The Relationship between Job Stress and Depression in Opticians in Seoul, Korea. Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society. 2019; 24: 223–230.

[89] Jeong YJ. The differential effects of transformational leadership and authentic leadership on team performance. Korean Management Review. 2014; 43: 705–743.

[90] Nam KM, Kim MJ. The effect of transformational leadership on innovation capability: Focused on the mediating effect of knowledge sharing and moderating effect of perceived organizational support. Global Business Administration Review. 2019; 16: 117–147.

[91] Chang SJ, Koh SB, Kang DM, Kim SA, Kang MG, Lee CG, et al. Developing and occupational stress scale for Korean employees. Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2005; 17: 297–317.

[92] Chang SJ, Koh SB. Development of the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS). Korean Journal of Stress Research. 2005; 13: 183–197.

[93] Kim HJ, Moon YS, Son BK, Lee SK, Rho HJ, Kim DH. The utility of Korean version of the WHO five well-being index in evaluating depressive symptoms and quality of life in the aged dwelling in community. Journal of Korean Geriatric Psychiatry. 2010; 14: 90–96.

[94] Shin GK. SmartPLS 3.0 structural equation modelling. Seoul, Korea: Cheonglam. 2018.

[95] Kim JS, Kim HC. Leaders’ coaching and employees’ performance: The influence of intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, and job involvement. Korean Journal of Business Administration. 2012; 25: 675–695.

[96] Bhanthumnavin D. Importance of Supervisory Social Support and its Implications for HRD in Thailand. Psychology and Developing Societies. 2000; 12: 155–166.

[97] Kim I, Jeong DB, Ryu TM. A Study of Authentic Leadership on the Job Autonomy and Job Engagement: Moderator of Leader Trust. Journal of Human Resource Management Research. 2019; 26: 1–23.

[98] Breaugh JA, Becker AS. Further Examination of the Work Autonomy Scales: Three Studies. Human Relations. 1987; 40: 381–400.

[99] Langfred CW, Moye NA. Effects of task autonomy on performance: an extended model considering motivational, informational, and structural mechanisms. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2004; 89: 934–945.

[100] Melchior M, Caspi A, Milne BJ, Danese A, Poulton R, Moffitt TE. Work stress precipitates depression and anxiety in young, working women and men. Psychological Medicine. 2007; 37: 1119–1129.

[101] Park SY, Park SY. Influence of Job Stress Factors on Job Satisfaction among Local Officials: Mediating Effect of Depression. Korean Journal of Local Government Studies. 2018; 21: 123–142.

[102] Kim SJ. Married employed womens’ gender role effect on depression. Social Welfare Policy and Practice. 2018; 4: 39–74.