Unlocking the influence of psychosocial safety climate on work engagement and job satisfaction: exploring the mediating role of job demands

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the influence of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) on work engagement, job satisfaction and the mediating role of job demands among young academics in Malaysian research universities.Design/methodology/approachThe study participants consisted of 177 full-time lecturers employed by Malaysian research universities for at least one year. Respondents were selected using a purposive sampling technique.FindingsThe findings reveal the significance of PSC in fostering work engagement and job satisfaction by mitigating the impact of job demands. However, the finding indicates that the relationship between job demands and work engagement was not statistically significant.Research limitations/implicationsThe necessity for a thorough three-wave research to precisely analyze the model's longitudinal impacts was discovered in all correlation and cross-sectional studies.Practical implicationsThe results indicate that the university should focus on job design and PSC support to enable university management to investigate further avenues for minimizing the impact of job demands to support academicians in RUs and enhance their job satisfaction. The results also indicated that young academicians' work engagement might be improved by appropriate job demands.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine these relationships among young academic staff in Malaysian universities. This paper offers recommendations to university policymakers on enhancing PSC, work engagement and job satisfaction among young academicians. It highlights the mediating role of job demands in Malaysian research universities.