CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Psychological well-being is about lives going well. It is the combination of feeling good and functioning effectively (Ryff & Singer, 2008; Selingman, 2011). Sustainable well-being does not require individuals to feel good all the time; the experience of painful emotion is a normal part of life, and being able to manage these negative or painful emotions is essential for long-term well-being (Marks & Shah, 2005). Psychological well-being is, however, compromised when negative emotions are extreme or very long lasting and interfere with a persons ability to function in his or her daily life.
The concept of functioning effectively involves the development of one’s potential, having some control over one’s life, having a sense of purpose (e.g working toward a specific goal), and experiencing positive relationship (Wright 2007).
Recent years have witnessed an exhilarating shift in the research literature from an emphasis on disorder and dysfunction to a focus on well-being and positive mental health (Mulgan, 2006, Layard, 2012). That is why world health organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 2000). Research has shown that employees psychological well-being has several impact on organization, such as performance, productivity, turnover, and indirect cost (Page and Vela-Broderick, 2009; Wright 2007; Danna and Griffin, 1999). As is widely recognized, enhancing employee well-being is essential for a competitive edge and organizational survival (Amabile, 1988; Shalley, 1995). Unfortunately, employee psychological well-being is usually ignored in human resource management in organization (Baptiste, 2008).
However, there are numerous factors which have the potential to influence an employee well-being either positively or negatively. Example job challenge and goal ambiguity (Locke & Latham, 2006).
Job challenge has been conceptualized in different ways (Aneen & Sidewall, 1994; Depater, Van Vianen Beettoldt 2009; Dixo 2005; Huang et al 2007). In general research have referred to job challenge as characteristics of work (De Peter, Van Vianen, Beehtodt 2009; Mecauley et al, 1999). Other researcher used the term job challenge but did not provide definition of the construct in their studies (Bandura, 1986; Maurer & Tarulli, 2005). Job challenge according goal setting theory perspective is a job that is difficult but obtainable. Others see it as meeting performance expectation that are reseasonably high (Berlew & Hall’s, 1966). Demand model (Karasek, 1979) considered job challenge in terms of qualitative (having to deal with goal ambiguity or conflict role) and quantitative (The degree an employee is expected to work fast). Moreover, the best definition comes from (McCauley, Ohlott and Rudeman, 1999) who identified five cluster of job components that represent challenging aspect of job: