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

Meng-Long Huo, Peter Boxall and Gordon W. Cheung
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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

Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2022, vol. 43, issue 1, 198-220

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.

Keywords: Emotional exhaustion; employee wellbeing; lean production; line-manager support; structural equation modeling; work intensification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:43:y:2022:i:1:p:198-220

DOI: 10.1177/0143831X19890678

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