Impact of Environmental Uncertainty on Depression and Anxiety Among Chinese Workers: A Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

Purpose

Environmental uncertainty has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. While there is substantial knowledge about the connection between environmental uncertainty and organizational outcomes, limited attention has been devoted to investigating its impact on employees’ depression and anxiety symptoms. Grounded in job demands-resources theory, this study aims to explore the relationship between environmental uncertainty and employees’ depression and anxiety symptoms, and it further investigates the mediating role of work pressure and the moderating role of union practices.

Methods

In September 2022, we undertook a cross-sectional survey study, gathering data from 1081 employees across various enterprises situated in Liaoning, China. Throughout this timeframe, notable global occurrences heightened the awareness of environmental uncertainty. Following the exclusion of participants who did not provide information on the main variables, the final valid sample comprised 940 employees. To test all hypotheses, a series of confirmatory factor analyses and path-analytic procedures were conducted using Mplus 7.0.

Results

Our results confirm that environmental uncertainty, as a high job demand, increases employees’ work pressure, thereby elevating rates of anxiety and depression; the indirect relationship between environmental uncertainty and employees’ anxiety and depression through work pressure is stronger when union practices are lower.

Conclusion

Our findings indicate the detrimental impact of environmental uncertainty on employees’ mental health, and highlight the roles of work pressure and union practices. In light of this, organizations should take steps to mitigate employees’ perceptions of environmental uncertainty and establish mental health programs, in cooperation with union practices, to protect employees’ mental well-being.

Keywords:

• environmental uncertainty
• anxiety
• depression
• union practices
• work pressure

Data Sharing Statement

The data that support the findings of the current study are available at: https://osf.io/c7evt/?view_only=cb86ad81c49b4fd5a55c5cbc6fafdbbb.

Ethical Approval and Informed Consent

All research involving human participants adhered to the ethical guidelines of the relevant institutional and national committees, aligning with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and subsequent amendments or comparable ethical standards. Ethical approval for the survey (No. 202205310061) was approved by the Beijing Normal University Ethics Committee. Verbal informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in accordance with this approval.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U2241210) to the last author.