The influence of job demand-resources (JD-R) model on work engagement among northern region public universities academics

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of personal resources (Big-Five personality), job resources (autonomy, social support, and performance feedback) and job demand (workload and emotional demand) on work engagement among academic staff in Northern region universities in Malaysia. This study indicates new contribution in Job Demand-Resources (JD-R) model by treating Big Five personality traits as personal resources. The study is cross-sectional and quantitative in nature. Questionnaire was utilized to collect the data from one hundred and thirty-two academic staff using purposive sampling technique. Data collection was administered using on-line (SurveyMonkey) distribution through official e-mail ID among academic staff of three selected universities that located within Northern region which are Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Seri Iskandar. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS) 24. Data were analyzed using different statistical techniques such as descriptive of variable analysis, reliability analysis, normality analysis, and inferential analyses (Pearson Correlation analysis and Multiple Linear Regression analysis). The findings of this study revealed mixed results, that personal resources (Big-Five personality) and workload (Job- Demand) are significant to work engagement, while the rest independent variables are not predicting work engagement among academic staff in respective universities. Hence, the study concludes that for effective work engagement to be improved, the level of motivation from various dimension need to be improvised. This would help to ensure the sustainability of academics as well the universities itself besides able to enhance the understanding on JD-R model in a new dimension.