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Lean production, work intensification and employee wellbeing: Can line-manager support make a difference?

Author

Listed:
  • Meng-Long Huo

    (University of South Australia Business School, Australia)

  • Peter Boxall

    (Department of Management and International Business, The University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand)

  • Gordon W. Cheung

    (The University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Abstract

Using a two-wave survey of 315 workers in a lean manufacturing plant, this study examines how work intensification affects employee wellbeing and how its effects may be ameliorated. It demonstrates that work intensification is transmitted into poorer wellbeing through greater emotional exhaustion. It shows that this mediation process is moderated by line-manager support, which buffers the relationship between emotional exhaustion and wellbeing. The study suggests that the health-impairing risks of high work intensity in lean settings can be reduced through better supervisory support. Ensuring that line managers have the opportunity, skills and motivation to offer good support to workers is a vital aspect of the interventions needed to counteract the health risks posed by lean production.

Suggested Citation

  • Meng-Long Huo & Peter Boxall & Gordon W. Cheung, 2022. "Lean production, work intensification and employee wellbeing: Can line-manager support make a difference?," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 198-220, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:43:y:2022:i:1:p:198-220
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X19890678
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andreas Klein & Helfried Moosbrugger, 2000. "Maximum likelihood estimation of latent interaction effects with the LMS method," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 65(4), pages 457-474, December.
    2. Erich C. Fein & Natalie Skinner & M. Anthony Machin, 2017. "Work Intensification, Work–Life Interference, Stress, and Well-Being in Australian Workers," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(4), pages 360-371, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Seán Ó Riain & Amy Erbe Healy, 2024. "Workplace regimes in Western Europe, 1995–2015: Implications for intensification, intrusion, income and insecurity," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 45(2), pages 415-446, May.
    2. Joey Soehardjojo & Rick Delbridge & Guglielmo Meardi, 2023. "The hidden layers of resistance to dominant HRM transfer: Evidence from Japanese management practice adoption in Indonesia," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(3), pages 679-702, August.

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