TY  - JOUR
U1  - Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
A1  - Qiu, Feng
A1  - Dauth, Tobias
T1  - Virtual work intensity, job satisfaction, and the mediating role of work-family balance: A study of employees in Germany and China
JF  - German Journal of Human Resource Management (GHRM): Zeitschrift für Personalforschung
N2  - This paper targets virtual work, an increasingly crucial alternative work arrangement in today’s interconnected world. Based on a survey of 308 employees working in Germany and China, we investigate the relationship between virtual work intensity, work-family balance, and job satisfaction through a mediator model. We find empirical evidence for an inverted U-shaped relationship between virtual work intensity and job satisfaction. When virtual work intensity is below a particular level, it is positively related to job satisfaction. However, increasing virtual work intensity begins to decrease job satisfaction when this threshold is exceeded. Our findings suggest this relationship between virtual work intensity and job satisfaction is mediated by work-family balance. Furthermore, empirical evidence demonstrates that the inverted U-shaped relationship has different optimums in different cultures. The research outcome demonstrates that the threshold is lower for Chinese employees than their German colleagues. This paper contributes to literature relating to job satisfaction, work-family balance, and virtual work by focusing on individual virtual work outcomes in a cross-cultural context. It also attempts to provide an alternative explanation for the generative mechanism of the impact of virtual work intensity on job satisfaction.
KW  - Human resource management
KW  - Job satisfaction
KW  - Virtual collaboration
KW  - Virtual work
KW  - Work-family balance
Y1  - 2021
SN  - 2397-0030
SS  - 2397-0030
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1177/2397002221998227
DO  - https://doi.org/10.1177/2397002221998227
VL  - 36
IS  - 1
SP  - 77
EP  - 111
ER  -