Factors affecting employees’ mental health in Ho Chi Minh City, the mediating role of work engagement

Abstract

Maintaining good mental health is crucial for all individuals. It is closely linked to high levels of emotional, psychological, and social well-being, leading to improved coping abilities, resilience, and productivity (Singh and Ramdeo, 2023). Managers increasingly understand that the mental health of their employees directly impacts productivity and provides a strategic advantage to their organization. Consequently, there is a growing need to prioritize employees’ mental health in the workplace. This study, based on the Job Demands-Resources theory, intends to examine the two positive organizational behaviors (authentic leadership (AL) and organizational justice (OJ)) on employees’ mental health (MH), as well as investigate the mediating role of work engagement (WE). The results from PLS-SEM supported seven hypotheses that AL, OJ and WE positively impact MH, the resources of AL and OJare vital in enhancing both WE and MH, in which WE plays a complementary mediation in these relationships. This study contributes significantly to the extant literature by understanding how AL and OJ predict employees’ WE and MH andprovides organizations with an overview of the role of two kinds of job resources (AL and OJ) in encouraging WE and enhancing MH, in which, actionable strategies by combining these resources at the workplace can improve employees’ MH. The survey was conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, a significant industrial hub in Vietnam, utilizing a non-probability convenient sampling method through Google Forms. A total of 268 responses were collected online and analyzed using SPSS and Smart PLS 4 software.