Understanding academic’s job stress through a moderated–mediation model of perceived supports and working hard

<p dir="ltr">Purpose</p><p dir="ltr">This research aims to develop a model built from the job demand-resource (JD-R) theory which explains the psychological mechanism that leads to academic work-related stress in an educational context. This study investigates the conditional effect of ambidextrous working hard through mediation paths and the moderating role of perceived support on these conditional effects.</p><p dir="ltr">Design/methodology/approach</p><p dir="ltr">Hypotheses were tested using cross-sectional data from 334 academics at Vietnamese institutions. Data were analysed within a moderated mediation model integrated from hierarchical regression.</p><p dir="ltr">Findings</p><p dir="ltr">The results revealed that while work engagement (WE) partially mediates the indirect effect of person-job fit (PJF) on job-related stress, workaholism (WKH) – as an escalated stage of working hard – fully explains the psychological mechanism with moderated integration from social supports.</p><p dir="ltr">Originality/value</p><p dir="ltr">This paper hopes to contribute to the growing educational literature exploring the complex, multi-conditional influences of personal and social factors to measure academics’ psychological changes that lead to a negative reaction at work.</p>