Challenging Work Factors - Paper Example

Introduction

Owing to changes in the domestic and global economy, increased competition, and the rapid rate of technological change, more organizations in the 21st century are giving EWB more prominence. Work and well-being affect an employee's standing, sense of self-worth, and satisfaction, which provides the environment in which social interaction and friendship grow (Jayasinghe, 2017). EWB is fundamental to the success and growth of all organizations across the globe (Porath et al., 2012). The importance of EWB is supported by various theories including the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), conservation of resources theory (COR), the theory of reasoned action (TRA), social exchange theory (SET), and positive organizational behavior (POB) theory. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs also determines the levels of employee satisfaction, which, in turn, affects their perception of well-being (Jerome, 2013). According to the literature, taking care of the well-being of the employees enhances productivity, organizational and economic performance, and also serves as a source of competitive advantage for the organization (Uly, 2003).

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Organizational Failure

Organizational failure in handling change has been cited as one of the primary causes of poor EWB. Leaders paying less attention to employee well-being may lead to undesired outcomes (Jayasinghe, 2017). Leadership style is important management, which, if properly used, can enhance positive relationships with employees, improve the organizational climate, and increase service performance (Kozak and Uca, 2008). It has been linked to worker well-being and organizational factors within the oil industry. According to Gannon (1996), a working environment that promotes significant well-being removes unfair discrimination. However, research shows only limited companies consciously introduce a program to manage employee well-being (Alilyyani et al., 2018). Besides, there is a gap in assessing the benevolent leadership style enhances EWB, even when work nature is tough.

Knowledge Sharing Behavior

Knowledge sharing behavior (KSB) is essential to organizational outcomes (Foss et al., 2010). It leads to the development of new knowledge and can also result in a greater individual problem-solving capability, which can be practical to the organizational degree work-related capability (Nickerson et al., 2019). Several studies agree that knowledge sharing generates a positive effect on the performance of organizations and constitutes a source of competitive advantage (Ma et al., 2017). However, it is necessary to deepen the identification of background factors, principles, and practices related to knowledge sharing.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is among the biggest players in the global oil industry. The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) is the state-possessed oil organization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is concerned with creation, exploration, and marketing, refining, and international shipping (Alomi et al., 2018). The relationship between employee's well-being and their knowledge-sharing behavior in the petroleum industry in Saudi Arabia has not been addressed sufficiently in the literature (Aldulaimi, 2016). According to the literature, work challenging factors such as workplace conflict may affect the well-being of Aramco employees as an antecedent of employee well-being (Skakon et al., 2010). The literature on conflict and conflict management also rarely addresses EWB as an antecedent or result of workplace conflict. This study views workplace conflict from the perspective of employee well-being as a precursor (Sonnentag, Unger, and Nägel, 2013). Understanding how EWB would impact Aramco employees' honesty in sharing their experience will have a significant impact on the employee and human resource policies and problems connected with an employee's work satisfaction and functionality (performance) (Jayasinghe, 2017).

Saudi Aramco has embraced knowledge sharing in its quest to become the world’s leading energy provider (Yeo et al., 2016). Hayman (2016) conducted a health assessment risk in Saudi Aramco and confirmed that fatigue and job hazards are the leading factors relating to health risk and absenteeism. In this context, Saudi Aramco reported several employee incidents over the last five years. In 2017, according to the Civil Défense agency ten employees were killed in a fire, and in another incident in 2017, one of the company's contractors was killed and many other employees injured in an oil pipe leaking incident (MOI, 2017). These incidents affected the company’s trend toward achieving its goals by 2020. In response, Saudi Aramco adopted a leadership development designed for the mid-level managers in 2018 (Aldulaimi, 2018). The aim of this study, therefore, was to gain insight into the extent of investments in employee well-being in the workplace within Saudi Aramco as well as aspects of KSB. Additionally, this knowledge could be used to provide further incentives for other organizations within and outside Saudi Arabia to devote resources to employee well-being.

Methodology

This research attempts to assess the employee’s antecedents and outcomes in Saudi Aramco. Based on this objective, three theories are used to support the framework and hypotheses development. As such, this study intends to test the applicability of these theories in explaining the antecedents and outcomes of EWB. Therefore, the positivist paradigm and quantitative method are adopted. The quantitative approach is the most suitable in this research since it seeks to examine theory affirmed relationships. Some of the advantages of utilizing the quantitative poll for research include decreased costs and increased rate of response, efficacy, and precision in collecting information among a high number of men and women (Uma et al., 2013). The advantage of working with the quantitative systems is the fact it might generate a dependable and quantitative result that may be generalized to a broader section of people (Steckler et al., 1992).

The 65,000 employees of Saudi Aramco were the target population of this study (Woodman and Jaoua, 2018). A total of 400 employees in Saudi Aramco were invited to complete a questionnaire that consisted of the measures of the construct. A purposive sampling technique was used since the potential respondents were required to have experience in Aramco. The selection criteria required that the participants should have worked at Aramco for at least two years and that their job position must be highly exposed to fatigue and work hazards. The surveys were distributed to the respondents using the judgmental sampling method. Within the selected departments, employees were invited to answer the questionnaire. Since the current study will be conducted in Saudi Arabia, where the national language is the Arabic language, all measures were translated from English to Arabic by the researcher. Then, the translated questionnaires in Arabic were translated back into English by independent bilingual translators. The researcher also worked with staff from the Learning Support Services, from Saudi universities to check the compatibility between the original English questionnaires with the back-translation version. Subsequently, pre-testing of the questionnaires in the Arabic language was conducted among employees who volunteered from Aramco Company of Saudi Arabia. Their feedback was used to ensure that no errors or oversights of problems were left in the draft questionnaire before starting the fieldwork in Saudi Arabia.

Conclusion

The study comprised five main stages; Theoretical Foundation (Phase 1), Research Model and Instrument Development (Phase 2), Pilot Study (Phase 3), Data Collection and Analysis (Phase 4), and Thesis Writing (Phase 5). Step one is basically about market research. The primary outcome of step two is a questionnaire that could measure the EWB in Saudi Aramco. The result of step three is the revised instrument. Meanwhile, the contribution of stage four is a research model that could predict antecedents that affect employee well-being on differences among demographic groups about employee well-being outcomes, and the recommendations for EWB outcomes in Saudi Aramco. Phase 4 provided an analysis of the data acquired from the initial finding and was distributed among the users. The smart PLS software was used for the data analysis. The result of the analysis was presented in the form of plots, tables, and discussions. Identifying the impact of each antecedent of the outcome of EWB among Saudi Aramco workers and the evaluation of their impact from one antecedent to another antecedent towards the outcome’ decision-making.