Job stress and job involvement among tertiary interns: the buffering role of perceived coworker support

Abstract

Job stress is a major challenge for both organisations and individuals. Considerable studies have highlighted the incalculable and detrimental influence of job stress on employees' job behaviour, including job involvement. Additionally, studies devoted to job stress and job involvement are skewed towards formal settings. This study investigates the moderating effect of perceived co-worker support on the influence of job stress on job involvement among student interns from public and private institutions. A total of 452 students took part in the research by completing an online self-reported questionnaire. The respondents were chosen using a stratified sampling method. The data was processed and analysed using IBM SPSS version 24 and SEM PLS, respectively. Results reveal that job stress experienced by interns negatively predicts job involvement whilst perceived co-worker support positively moderates the relationship between intern’s job stress and job involvement. The findings suggest organisations must build a supportive work culture in the work environment in order to facilitates interns' job involvement.

Keywords

• Job stress
• Job involvement
• Perceived co-worker support
• Internships
• University students