Abstract
BACKGROUND: Theoretical developments underscore the need to expand beyond traditionally explored job design features to understand the employee experience, including non-work resources and demands and individual-level cognitive-emotional processes. Such complexity requires analytical methods capable of modeling multivariate and interrelated constructs. This study contributes to this effort by examining the experiences of Royal Australian Navy personnel through a multidimensional lens, modeling the interplay between demands, resources, and cognitive-emotional processes. Using novel analytical methods, we provide a foundation for exploring complex interactions between demands, resources, and cognitive-emotional processes on diverse employee outcomes. METHODS: Using large-scale cross-sectional data from 558 navy personnel (75.8% male; M(age) = 30.22 years), we combine Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling and Latent Network Analysis and Directed Acyclic Graphs to develop a comprehensive and interconnected perspective on how demands, resources, and cognitive-emotional processes concurrently relate to emotional health and workplace outcomes (e.g., performance). RESULTS: Several demands and resources could be simplified into fewer categories by their source (e.g., home-life) and broader job design concepts (e.g., interpersonal demands, meaningful work). Findings reveal that certain demands, like job overload and complexity, are associated with specific outcomes such as fatigue and psychological distress. Similarly, resources like meaningful work were associated specifically with motivation-related outcomes. Certain personal resources, such as empowerment beliefs, were found to be associated with a range of outcomes, including mental health and performance. Cognitive-emotional processes also showed varied associations. Challenge appraisals were positively associated with resource perception and motivation, while threat/hindrance appraisals were linked to fatigue and distress. CONCLUSIONS: Findings underscore the value of multivariate approaches to capture the nuanced effects of job design elements and cognitive-emotional processes on diverse employee outcomes. This approach provides a flexible framework that can be adapted to other organizational contexts, helping inform targeted future longitudinal research to advise intervention targets.