Abstract
Based mainly on the results of cross-sectional studies, the dominant trend in the extant literature on job stress and organizational commitment posits a one-way directional relationship in which job stress negatively impacts organizational commitment. Moreover, research shows that job satisfaction fully mediates this relationship. The present study revisits the conceptual and methodological issues related to these relationships by employing a three-wave longitudinal design with 252 employees in two industrial organizations to test a model that involves a mutual relationship between job stress and organizational commitment in which job satisfaction partially mediates this reciprocal relationship. This proposed model was tested against and was preferable to numerous competing models. This study presents a new framework with more elaborate relationships between job stress, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. It contributes to the current body of knowledge by revealing a dynamic relationship between organizational commitment and job stress (i.e., a feedback loop) and the dual mediating roles of job satisfaction in this mutual relationship, thereby providing greater insight into the mechanism by which these variables are interrelated. On a practical level, based on the supported mutual relationships between job stress, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction, focusing on the factors that commonly have beneficial effects on these three constructs is expected to intensify employees' well-being and provide more flexibility to intervening organizational actions aimed at managing these variables.