Psychological Well-being in an Organisational Change Climate

: The Job Demands-Resources Perspective

Abstract

Post‑COVID organisational environments have transformed work practices, reshaped employee expectations, and intensified psychosocial demands, particularly within safety‑critical Defence‑technology settings. This thesis investigates the relationship between organisational climate, job demands and resources (JD‑R), and employees’ psychological well‑being, operationalised through Kahn’s (1990) psychological conditions of meaningfulness, psychological safety, and psychological availability. Using an integrated theoretical model adapted from Albrecht et al. (2015), the study examines how climate shapes JD‑R configurations and how these, in turn, influence state personal resources during organisational change.
A quantitative, deductive research design was employed, grounded in a realist ontology and post‑positivist epistemology. Cross‑sectional survey data were collected from employees in a multinational Defence‑technology organisation (UK and Canada) undergoing a multi‑year transformation following the COVID‑19 pandemic. Validated instruments - the Psychological Conditions Scale, COPSOQ‑III, and the Organisational Climate Measure - were used to measure latent constructs. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) tested direct and mediated pathways. After rigorous data screening, 204 responses were analysed.
The findings indicate a generally positive state of psychological well‑being across the organisation, with meaningful and valuable work exerting the strongest influence. The most significant contribution of the study is the identification of organisational climate as the primary driver of psychological well‑being, exerting a stronger direct effect than either job demands or job resources. Organisational climate also strongly predicted both job resources and job demands, confirming its role as an upstream contextual force. Although job resources and job demands related to psychological well‑being in the expected directions, these relationships were not statistically significant in the final structural model. Demographic analyses revealed meaningful differences across gender, age, supervisory status, and hybrid working frequency, with women and line managers reporting especially strong experiences of meaningfulness and value.
Methodologically, the study contributes a validated four‑factor structural model for examining climate–JD‑R–well‑being relationships and demonstrates the value of integrating Kahn’s psychological conditions as proximal indicators of well‑being. Practically, the research delivers an evidence‑based management framework emphasising organisational climate, Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC), leadership capability, demand differentiation, and structured employee voice.
Overall, the thesis advances understanding of how organisational systems shape psychological well‑being during prolonged change and offers actionable guidance for building climates that support resilience, engagement, and sustainable performance in complex, high‑reliability environments.

Date of Award	14 Apr 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Portsmouth
Supervisor	Adele Bezuidenhout (Supervisor) & Sally Diana Rumbles (Supervisor)